Hands and Feet
by xoloveJBox
Summary: Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb. This is a bunch of pre-series one-shots, paired with my sisfic 'Things that go Bump in the Night' Most of these will probably only make sense if you've read that, but I guess it's up to you haha :D Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hey!**_

_**This is paired with my sisfic 'Things that go Bump in the Night'**_

_**So, the other day, I was thinking that during the course of the show, every now and again, there are little flashbacks to when Sam and Dean are younger, but obviously, none of them are going to include my OC, Elena, so I thought I'd take a crack at writing some of my own!**_

_**I have ideas for about 5/6 of them, with the help of the incredible wondertogondor(Her stuff is amazing by the way, go check it out) but I'm hoping for at least 10, so if anyone's got any ideas, please! Let me know! **_

_**Each one of these will be a one-shot, and they may not necessarily be in chronological order (though I may try to put them that way) and chances are, they won't really relate to each other. :)**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise :( Only Elena, and a few characters that will come up later are mine :D**_

_**Please R+R! I love getting reviews, and I always find the feedback extremely useful. I'll take ideas/suggestions/what you like/dislike/criticism(constructive only please). If you don't want to leave a review, PM me if you'd rather!**_

_**Right, I'm going to shut up now haha**_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet~ Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 10 years old.**_

_**Sam:6 years old.**_

_**Lena: 1 day old.**_

"Dad, I don't understand," Dean whined "Where is it coming from?"

"Dean, we've been over this a hundred times already." John sighed. He looked up at Dean, who was giving him an unimpressed, expectant glare, leaning against the doorframe.

"But why do we need it?" Dean questioned his father with raised eyebrows.

"Will you stop calling her an 'it'" John requested with an amused grin "She's a little girl, and her name's Elena."

"It's a girl?!" Dean exclaimed disgustedly "Eurgh!"

"Don't you want a little sister?" John asked with a chuckle.

Dean shrugged nonchalantly "I already got Sammy."

The two of them peered around at Sam, who was bouncing excitedly on his bed, clearly feeling the opposite of his brother's disdain over what would soon be arriving and invading into their lives.

"Sam doesn't seem to mind having a baby sister." John observed, and it was Dean's turn to laugh.

"That's because you told him he won't be the baby anymore." Dean retorted simply "but FYI Dad, he's six, so he's still kind of a baby. _And_, you didn't answer my question: _why _do we need it?"

John rolled his eyes and ignored the fact that Dean had resorted back to 'it' "Well, we don't _need _her." He answered, slightly gingerly, hoping not to say the wrong thing "We _want _her."

Dean scoffed "We do?"

"Yes." John replied firmly "We do. You know, your mother wanted you to have a baby sister."

"Yeah, but mom's not here Dad." Dean complained quietly, and John stiffened from his place on the motel room floor, attempting to put the travel crib together.

"No, but we are, and now so is Elena." John said softly, diverting his eyes a little uncomfortably "I don't know how to make you understand Dean, but I promise you; Elena will be a perfect little mixture of me and your mother. You'll love her, you'll see."

"Yeah, right." Dean muttered darkly under his breath, and John pretended not to hear him.

"Come here," he said cheerfully, beaconing over his ten year old "Why don't you help me finish putting this together, huh?"  
Dean sighed but obeyed anyway, stomping over and kneeling next to his father.

A little over an hour later, Dean listened as the impala roared out of the parking lot. He slumped onto the end of his bed and grabbed the TV remote, but he realised that the now assembled baby crib was blocking his view. Dean groaned, got up, and attempted to shift it, but even when he moved it as far as the other furniture in the room would allow, the edge still obscured most of the small screen.

Stupid crib, he thought bitterly, stupid baby.

Irritated, Dean looked over and saw Sam peering wide-eyed out of the window.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Dean barked, making his little brother jump "Come away from the window."  
"But De," Sam whined mercilessly "I'm looking for the baby."

"Sammy, Dad only just left to get her. He won't be back yet." Dean shook his head "Why do you even want it anyway?"

"Because Dad said I have to help you look after her." Sam replied happily "He said it's my job to teach her things, just like you teached me things."

"It's _taught_ Sammy, I _taught _you things." Dean corrected, rolling his eyes. Sam, however, didn't seem to be listening anymore. He had turned his attention back to the window, so Dean decided to leave him to it. He ended up watching cartoons through the bars in the crib; though he was distracted every now and again by all the _stupid _baby things that now littered the motel room. Packets of diapers, boxes of wet wipes, formula, creams, toys that weren't even really toys. Dean couldn't understand why anyone, not even a baby, would want to play with half the things he saw around him. They were basically just blobs of colour. There weren't even any machine guns attached to them. He was forced to ask himself how something so small would need so many things. He couldn't remember Sammy having so much crap, and even if he did, it wouldn't have all been _pink_.

By the time Dean was halfway through his third episode of _Tom and Jerry_, Sam was jumping up and down, squealing happily and launching himself towards the front door. Dean stayed where he was as he saw his father approaching the door with a car-seat in his hand. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen his father grinning as widely as he was now, and Dean refrained from rolling his eyes again. Sam hovered around his father's heels, and while any other time, John would have shooed the boy away, he didn't seem to mind as he placed the carrier on the table.

"Dean, come over here buddy." John asked quietly. Dean saw Sammy ogling at the contents of the car-seat, and Dean had to admit, he was a little curious. He trudged over and felt his dad put a large warm hand on his shoulder as he peered inside at the bundle of pink blankets and blotchy, pudgy limbs. The baby was asleep, he mouth slightly agape, and her features screwed up like she'd smelt something bad.

"Boys," John started warmly "This is Elena Mary Winchester."

Sam immediately pushed a finger into one of her tiny fists and grinned when she gripped it tight.

"She's like the hulk!" he exclaimed, apparently surprised by the strength in Elena's minute fingers.

Dean looked up at his father, a small smile playing on his face, and John felt his heart swell as he thought that Dean had finally warmed to the idea of a sister now that he had seen her.

However, that idea was soon shattered when Dean simply proclaimed "Dad, it looks like an alien."

Dean woke up that night to the baby crying. No, not crying, he thought, _screaming._ He groaned and turned over, wrapping his pillow around his ears in hopes of blocking her out. But her wails still protruded through from the other room. He scrunched his eyes closed tightly, trying desperately to go back to sleep and pretend that he couldn't hear the noise she was making, but it was too hard to ignore. Sam still slept peacefully in the bed next to him, and Dean could just about make out his father's snores from the couch. Annoyed that he seemed to be the only one disturbed from his sleep, Dean threw back his covers and stomped over to where his father lay and poked him.

"Dad," he hissed irritably "the baby's crying."

John barely stirred, so Dean jabbed him again "Dad!"

When he still got no reaction from his father, Dean crossed the room, flicked on a single lamp, and looked inside the crib. Even in the dim half-light, he could see that her face was red from screeching so loud, and she kicked her little feet around in protest to being ignored.

"Shhhhh." Dean warned quietly "You'll wake up Sammy!"

Still Elena cried, and Dean looked around for something to give her, like a pacifier or bottle, but found nothing.

Jeez, he thought, how can no one else hear the stupid noises this kid is making?

Seeing nothing else he could do, Dean reached down and rubbed his palm on the baby's belly.

"Please stop crying." He pleaded, his annoyance fading as the sounds coming from Elena started to too, so he continued to talk softly to her.

"If you can't wake him up with all that crying, I don't know why you think I can." He mumbled, still running his hand over the soft pink material of her sleep-suit. After a few minutes of impatiently shushing her, Dean saw that the baby was blinking up at him, whimpering slightly before shoving a fist into her mouth and raking at her cheek with the other hand.

"Hey, don't do that," he told her, not even thinking that she didn't understand as he moved her hand away before she hurt herself with her paper-thin but razor-sharp nails.

Eventually, she stopped crying, and Dean was a little surprised that he had quietened her by himself. Before he had chance to move away, he felt his father, strong and comforting, beside him and Dean looked up at his unshaven face.  
"She stopped crying." Dean told him simply, and John grinned at him.

"Of course she did." He replied "You're probably the coolest thing she's ever seen."

Dean's eyes widened with wonderment "I am?"

John couldn't suppress the laugh that burst from his chest "Yeah. You're her big brother, and she knows that you'll always be there to keep her safe."

Dean looked down at the baby again with a furrowed brow. Every move he made, her eyes followed him, and it made him chuckle slightly. He did what Sammy had done earlier that afternoon, and let her grab onto one of his fingers, and she clung to it tightly, as if he were the only thing keeping her from slipping off the planet. Still holding onto him, Dean and John watched as she slowly fell back to sleep and Dean smiled.

Maybe it-_she-_wasn't going to be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Howdy!**_

_**OK, so I really didn't expect to get another one of these out so quickly, but this kind of just came out. I've only just finished it, and I wanted to get it up before I go to sleep, and I haven't really had a chance to go through it, so I apologize in advance if there are any mistakes :)**_

_**I want to say a huge thank you to the incredible wondertogondor, and the lovely sweetkiwi604 for their amazing advice and continued support! They are both so sweet and helpful (and damn good writers too, so go check out some of their stuff too!) and I have no idea whether my sisfic that this is paired with (Things that go Bump in the Night) would have even gotten as far as it has so far, so this one wouldn't even have started :D**_

_**Please R+R and let me know what you think! They make me smile :)**_

_**P.S Just a reminder: Le=pronounced like 'Lay' because I don't know any other way to get that across with this spelling of Elena. **_

_**P.P.S I know I jumped a little bit from the first one. I may write one that is set somewhere in those three years, but for now, this is it haha For the others that I've planned out, there isn't so much gap between the timings :) Ideas for more are completely welcomed!**_

_**Disclaimer: Only Elena is mine :)**_

_**Love lots!**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 13 years old**_

_**Sam: 9 years old**_

_**Lena: 3 years old.**_

The rain battered mercilessly against the draughty motel room window in the nameless, faceless town that Dean, Sam and Lena currently found themselves in. Dean lounged on the single, worn armchair, watching the static lined TV screen with Lena at his feet, playing with her blond pigtails. Sam was sitting at the table across the room, doing his homework and getting irritated when the answers didn't come easily. The sky was prematurely dark, weighed down by heavy rain clouds that pressed against the windows, and held no chance of letting up any time soon.

Lena sighed and pushed herself clumsily to her feet, searching for something more interesting to do. At first she clambered onto the windowsill, resting her chin on her hands, looking dejectedly out into the rotten weather. Letting out an unimpressed sigh, she slid off again and tottered over to Sam, standing on her tip-toes to peek at the papers strewn out in front of him.

"Saaaam" she sang, tapping small fingers on the wood of the table.

"Go away Elena." Sam snapped sharply, but Lena simply blinked up at him, unfazed by his tone.

"Don't be mean to her Sam." Dean warned from across the room without even looking up at them.

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, turning his gaze back to the page in front of him.

"What'cha doing Sammy?" Lena chimed after a minute of quietly watching the concentration on her older brother's face.

"Homework." Sam answered monotonously, trying to ignore his baby sister as she attempted to amuse herself.

"Can I help?" she asked cheerfully, stretching a little more to see higher over the table, her lopsided braids swinging.

"You know how to do long division?" Sam replied sarcastically, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

Lena only stared at him for a minute before offering earnestly "I can draw a butterfly."

Sam gave a small, bitter laugh "Yeah, thanks." He muttered, pushing his hair from his eyes sullenly.

"Can I draw a picture?" Lena finally asked, looking hopefully at him with her wide, bright green eyes. Sam glanced at her for a second before rolling his eyes and pulling out the chair next to him. Lena squealed delightedly and climbed up; sitting up on her knees on the seat while she watched as Sam carefully tore a page from his notebook and pushed over his pencil case for her to choose some coloured pencils.

Seemingly content, Sam turned back to his homework, and for twenty minutes, Lena drew silently in concentration, stopping every few minutes to survey her work.

After studying the drawing for a long minute, Lena eventually put down her pencil, and held out the paper to Sam, who was finally on the last question of his homework sheet.

"Look Sam!" She proclaimed happily "It's a capertiller!"

"Caterpillar," Sam corrected as he looked at the uneven circles that were joined to make a body, spreading out over the page "It's a caterpillar Elena."

"Yeah, that's what I said" Lena nodded enthusiastically "a capertiller."

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully as he began to pack his books away.

"What's its name?" he asked, and Lena looked from the picture, to Sam and back again.

"I don't know," she mumbled, frowning down at the page as if it were hidden in crayon.

"I know," Dean called over to them "Call it Dean. That's a really cool name."  
Lena swivelled around on the seat and raised her eyebrows at him "Dean, it's a girl." She replied matter-of-factly "Can't you see the bow on her head?"

"Oh sorry Le," Dean laughed, pretending to turn his attention back to the TV.

Lena tapped her chin animatedly for a minute before exclaiming "I know! She can share my name!"

"That's a good idea," Dean told her cheerfully, indulging her in her moment of excitement "Why don't you write it down so she doesn't forget it?"

Lena turned back to the drawing, but then her brow creased with confusion "I don't know how to." She whimpered slightly, her bottom lip trembling a little.

"Come here," Sam told her quickly before she could start crying, and pulled her into his lap. He positioned a pencil in her hand and wrapped his around her fist, guiding the pencil across a sheet of the extra paper he had kept out for her. He told her each letter as they carved them onto the page, and Lena stared curiously at them as they appeared, drinking it all in and storing it away. When they were done, Sam let go of her hand and gave her a fresh piece of paper.

"Ok," he said simply "Now you try."

Lena looked nervously at him for a second, but Sam shot her and encouraging smile and she put the tip to the paper. She all but stuck out her tongue in concentration, and Sam watched carefully as she copied the letters on the other page. When she was done, she looked up at him expectantly, waiting for his judgment.

"You got it." Sam told her warmly, holding his hand up for a high five, which she gladly reciprocated. Lena grabbed her paper and dove from the chair, running over to Dean and thrusting the paper under his nose.

"Look De, I writed my name!" she blurted, making sure Dean looked at it. The letters were overly large and wobbly, but the basic shape was there, and Dean noticed the way his sister's cheeks glowed proudly.

"You're a genius Le." Dean declared theatrically "You might even be smarter than Dad one day."  
Lena's eyes widened, bewildered "Smarter than Daddy?"

"You bet." Dean promised with a wink, reaching out and scooping her up "Now come on, even geniuses have to go to bed."


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Howdy! Gosh, I'm really on a roll with these haha :)**_

_**This one is really short! I couldn't believe it to be honest haha :) I don't really like to read through them afterward, otherwise I decide that I hate it and delete the whole thing. I've skim-read it for mistakes, but if anyone spots any, feel free to point them out. :D**_

_**Disclaimer: Nope...still don't own anything you recognise *cries like a baby***_

_**Please R+R! Love to read them and hear what everyone thinks, and I'm totally open to ideas for other chapters :)**_

_**lots of love and virtual cookies ;)**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 14 years old**_

_**Sam: 10 years old**_

_**Lena: 4 years old.**_

Dean woke up as a crack of lightening whipped past the window and a small, whimpering bundle dove into his bed. Dean blinked sleepily, but all he could see out of the edge of the cover was the top of a blonde head that was nestling as close to his side as it could get. Grabbing at his clothes as thunder rumbled outside, Lena started to cry.

"Hey Princess," Dean cooed softly, careful not to wake Sam "What's the matter? You're not scared of the storm, are you?" He didn't think she was, she was never usually bothered by the ferocious weather, but _something_ had sent her seeking the comfort of his bed.

Lena shook her head against Dean's chest "I had a bad dream." she whispered, tears soaking into Dean's shirt, and Dean started to card his fingers through his sister's long hair soothingly.

"Well, you're ok now, right?" he asked her, and he felt Lena nod "There you go then. You want to tell me about it?"

"You were gone." Lena sniffled after a minute "You and Sammy and Daddy. I didn't know where you went, and you didn't listen when I shouted."

"I'm right here Le and Sammy's just over there," Dean told her gently, nodding over to Sam's bed "Dad'll back in the morning. We're not going anywhere."

"You promise?" Lena queried, looking up at him wide, watery eyes as Dean wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"I'll always be here." He promised her firmly, though she still didn't seem convinced.

"Forever?" she asked seriously, and Dean shot her a grin.

"Forever and ever." He assured her, and she blinked sleepily, finally seeming satisfied with his answer.

Lena was happy now, he nightmare forgotten about as she settled in to back to sleep, cushioned protectively against her brother's side with no attempts to move back to her own bed. The idea of being on her own seemed silly now, even to her infant mind. She would never be alone, she was sure of it. Dean had promised, and Dean never broke his promises.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hey lovelies :)  
So, my muse spewed this out today :) Not sure how successful it was, but hey ho, we'll soon see haha **_

_**I'm not sure there's much for me to ramble on about today, but the chapters look kind of naked without an author's note...**_

_**Alright, R+R, let me know what you think!**_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 15 years old**_

_**Sam: 11 years old**_

_**Lena: 5 years old**_

Dean could feel his sister's tiny hand trembling slightly in his as they walked together down the street. He looked down at her wobbly pigtails that Lena had had to do herself because seriously, how the hell was he supposed to know how to do braids? The light purple bag on her back was huge, bigger than her in fact. Dean had chuckled when she'd picked it, thinking that she was playing around, but Lena had looked at him with such seriousness that he couldn't find the heart to tell her a smaller one would be fine.

As they rounded a corner and their destination came into view, Dean felt Lena hesitate nervously in her step, so he squeezed her hand encouragingly. Sam pretended that it wasn't such a big deal, but he didn't protest when Lena gripped his fingers too.

Lena had spent the morning trying to convince her brothers that she was ready, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos in front of her, and the anarchy she was about to walk into.

Kindergarten.

All around them, kids were yelling, screaming, laughing, crying. Nobody walked- everyone was running, or jumping or skipping. Lena walked as close to Dean as she could physically get, and even Dean had to admit, he'd have been scared too. He'd thought high school was bad, but it was nothing compared to what _this_ must have looked like to Lena.

Sam had to forcibly pry Lena's fingers out of his so that he could go to the entrance to his part of the school, throwing a quick goodbye over his shoulder. At eleven, Sam was totally indifferent to first days, but Lena had never been to school before, and seeing it, she couldn't understand why Sam seemed to enjoy it so much.

When the two of them were alone, Dean led Lena to the end of the pathway that would take her into the building and stopped, kneeling down in front of his sister.

"You ready kiddo?" he asked her cheerfully, but her lip trembled precariously, her eyes filling with tears as she nodded a lie.

"You're going to have so much fun today Princess." He promised, leaning forwards to pull up the stripy knee length socks she had insisted on wearing with her denim shorts and sneakers, even though they were already making the slow descent to her ankles.

"Dean, I don't like these kids." She admitted quietly, looking around wide-eyed at the animalistic qualities of her peers.

"Well," Dean sighed "I don't like 'em either, but there's not much we can do about it Le."

"But what if they think I'm weird?" Lena queried dejectedly.

"So what if they do?" Dean shrugged with a grin "I'm weird. Sam's _definitely _weird. I think being weird is kinda cool."

"Ok," Lena sniffled. Dean could tell that she was still scared- it was the longest she had ever been away from all of her family at once, and the thought of being alone terrified her.

It unnerved Dean too, though he didn't care to admit it.

"Who are you?" Dean smirked, resorting to the mantra they had playfully repeated the day before.

"Elena Mary Winchester." She replied, a small smile playing onto her cheeks.

"And what are you?"

Lena's face brightened as she beamed happily at him.

"Awesome!" She chimed, most of her fears forgotten as she laughed with her big brother.

"Yes you are." Dean replied firmly as the bell announced the time for them to go in "Go on, you'll be late. I'll be waiting right here when you get out, ok?"

Lena nodded and tried to look confident as she strode down the path, her bag bouncing with her steps. Dean waited until she was completely out of sight before moving, not even caring that he was going to be late for his own class.

For Lena, the day passed with finger paints and play dough, and she was almost surprised when her teacher told them it was time to go. She gathered up all of her newly acquired things- she made a mental note to tell Dean that it was a good job they had picked the extra big bag- and bounded out to her brothers, who were both standing exactly where Dean said he would be.

Lena talked all the way back to the motel room, barely stopping for breath. When they got in, Lena dug around in her bag to find one particular drawing of a rainbow she had painted, spewing glitter and furry pom-poms that had come unattached to various mounds of glue and paper. While Sam soon lost interest in the baby-ish activities that he had long outgrown, Dean nodded animatedly, and listened to every word his sister said until she finally fell asleep that night on his lap, still dressed, covered in paint, but sincerely content, telling him how she couldn't wait to go back the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Hpwdy :)  
It's been a few days since I posted one of these, so I was determined to finish this one today and get it up ASAP. I haven't really read through it, though I scanned it quickly, because if I do, I'll decide that I hate it and delete the whole thing, but if you see any glaringly obvious mistake, feel free to name and shame :)**_

_**I'm not going to babble too much today haha Remember, this is to go alongside my sisfic, 'Things that go Bump in the Night' and will probably only really make sense with that, but I don't suppose it completely matters. :) Please R+R and let me know what you think! I'm always looking for ideas for these one-shots, so if anyone has any, I'd love love LOVE to hear them!**_

_**OK, I'm gonna shut up now haha **_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 16 years old.**_

_**Sam: 12 years old.**_

_**Lena: 6 years old.**_

Lena let out a heavy sigh. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so bored. It was a Sunday afternoon; Dean and John had gone on a hunt the day before- a simple salt and burn- leaving Sam and Lena to fend for themselves for the night.

The first few hours had passed quite quickly; Dean had taken Lena to pick a few movies before he'd left, but she had watched all those. She'd drawn pictures, but there were only so many variations of patterns on butterfly wings she could explore without getting fed up of that too. She'd even tried to practice her writing, imitating Sam's spidery scrawl while he did his homework, but Lena found that Sammy used too many big words for it to hold her interest for long.

Sleeping had been a strange experience the night before too. They had a routine, where Sam would read to her, then Dean would kiss her cheek and ruffle her hair before settling into her bed and climbing in beside her. Sometimes he would watch TV for a little longer, but he would always wait for Lena to fall asleep before slipping out again. Lena usually cradled next to him, needing his presence to fill the bed so that she had something safe and secure to balance her, so that she didn't feel like she could fall off the bed at any time.

Dean had never been away overnight before. John had, but never Dean. He was always there. Sam had read to her, like always, but afterwards, Lena had kind of sat there expectantly, waiting for Dean's kiss until she remembered that it wasn't going to come. She'd clambered dejectedly onto the mattress, but Lena found the bed too big and empty for her to get comfortable. Eventually, she slipped into Sam's bed, but Sam was a restless sleeper, and every other minute he was tossing and turning, making the mattress jerk every time Lena started to drift off to sleep. After a while, she dozed, and when she opened her eyes again the sun was shining through the gap in the curtains. She'd hoped to see Dean and Dad back by then, so she had to try and not look disappointed when she was only greeted by the sight of Sam pouring them both cereal.

As she wandered absently around the room, Lena remembered that Dean had once told her that only boring people got bored. But it was so hard not to be when they were under strict instructions not to leave the motel room for _any reason._ What were they supposed to do? Sam seemed content at reading a book, but Lena didn't think it looked like one that she would enjoy, so she didn't even bother asking if he would read it to her.

Lena let out another breath. She clambered restlessly on top of one of the hard-backed dining table chairs to lean her elbows on the windowsill. Her heart leapt every time a car stumbled near the motel, but she was forced to curb her excitement each time it wasn't who she wanted it to be. Lena was so practiced at this by the time the impala finally pulled up; she almost didn't fully register it. She squealed happily for a second, but the dark, concerned look on her father's face quelled it as he slammed his door and hurried to the passenger seat and crouched down to ease Dean from the car.

"Sammy," She started quizzically as she watched John sling Dean's arm over his shoulder "Why is Daddy carrying Dean?"

Sam's head snapped up at his sister's words, and he rushed to the window, as if to check that she wasn't playing around. 'Carrying' wasn't exactly true, but something wasn't right, and Sam headed quickly to the door and pulled it open. John staggered inside with Dean tripping over his own feet.

"What the hell happened?" Sam exclaimed as he closed the door as John set Dean heavily on the bed.

"Let's just say the guy didn't exactly appreciate our efforts to get rid of him." John grumbled as Dean pushed him away dismissively, despite the bleeding gash on his forehead that oozed scarlet down his face, along with cuts, bruises and scratches running down his arms and neck too.

Lena trepidly took in the blood on her brother's face and clothes, his pale cheeks, and the way he wasn't smiling. She couldn't remember the last time Dean wasn't smiling. She remained frozen on her seat by the window, almost convinced that something bad would happen if she moved. Sam went over and took her hand gently, knowing there was nothing he could do for his brother anyway at that moment.

"Come on Le, let's go do something over here." He muttered softly to her, pulling her over to the table and pushing paper and pens in front of her, over-zealously showing enthusiasm to her drawing. Lena, however, couldn't keep her eyes from flittering over to Dean on the bed. Fear and worry darkened her features, and Dean looked around his father, who was carrying over a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth, setting them on the bedside table.

"Hey Princess," he called across to her, jolting her attention immediately to him "You still have that first aid kit that Sammy made up for you?" Lena nodded quickly, and Dean grinned "Why don't you come over here and patch me up, huh?"

Lena stayed in her seat for a second, before the words clicked in her mind, and she slowly slipped from her chair. She scurried over to her duffel bag and dug around, until her fingers grasped the cold, shiny purple tin that Sam had given her a few weeks before, filled with bandages, gauze dressings, band aids, tweezers and a variety of other things, like safety pins, a thermometer and antiseptic cream. She had been elated when he'd given it to her, though she'd failed to notice that it didn't have all the things that John's had, like scissors and aspirins, but she hadn't had reason to use it since. With it clasped firmly in her hands, Lena teetered over to the bed and climbed up nervously; sitting on one of Dean's outstretched legs.

"I don't know what to do." She whispered timorously, her voice shaking slightly at the admittance.

"Dean..." John mumbled warningly, though Dean shot him a look.

"Dad, she can do it. You said she needed to learn." He replied coolly before turning back to Lena and giving her an encouraging smile "It's ok Le," he assured her "I'll tell you what to do."

Lena took a deep breath and nodded, following each instruction perfectly, careful to do it exactly the way Dean told her. Sam and John sat on the adjacent bed, watching intently as Lena dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out tightly. Dean kept up an almost constant stream of casual chatter as Lena wiped the blood from his face first; patting it dry gently with the towel John passed her. The water in the bowl stained pink when Lena wrung it out again to move onto his arms and neck. None of the cuts there were deep, so once they were clean, there was nothing else to do with them, but the gouge just above his left eye was deeper, and needed more attention. Lena squeezed a blob of the antiseptic cream onto her finger and started to work it into the wound, causing Dean to hiss out a sharp breath at the stinging it elicited.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lena asked anxiously, fearing that she'd hurt him even more.

"No, no." Dean assured her through slightly gritted teeth "You're doing great."

Lena finished rubbing in the cream and taped on a small piece of gauze. "Stop moving." She told him when he squirmed a little. Lena finished with one of the bright pink 'Hello Kitty' band aid. As Lena packed away the contents of the box, John passed Dean an aspirin and a glass of water to squelch the mother of a head ache he could already feel coming on. When it was all tidied, Lena started to slide down from the bed.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Dean started, making Lena freeze "Aren't you going to kiss it better for me?"

In her whole life, there had never been a time that Lena had hurt herself, scraped her knees or grazed her elbows, and Dean hadn't kissed it better. Even though she really knew that it made no difference, Lena never felt better until Dean kissed it better, but she'd never had to do the same for Dean. Without even thinking about it, Lena leaned over and pressed a soft kiss on her brother's forehead, and Dean beamed at her.

"See," he chimed cheerfully "it doesn't even hurt anymore. Thank you Elena."

A few hours passed, and John found that he couldn't relax until he was sure that Dean didn't have a concussion. But Dean was fully conscious and alert, his words were lucid and coherent to the point where he was still managing to make smart-ass remarks every few minutes, his pupils were fine and he remembered the whole thing. By the time night fell, John was happy for Dean to go to bed with Sam and Lena, though Dean seemed to have other ideas, deciding instead to stay up and watch the John Wayne movie he had found on TV.

"Don't stay up too long Dean," John warned him before getting ready for bed himself "You'll be late for school tomorrow."  
Dean groaned "I still have to go?"  
"Yes, Dean, you still have to go." John replied firmly, rolling his eyes. "And I won't be here in the morning to wake you up, so _don't_ be late."

Dean grumbled, but agreed all the same, and despite his father's warning, Dean didn't fall asleep on the couch until after two in the morning.

His alarm screamed at him. Dean protested against it, feeling around blindly to grab it and turn it off, but his eyes widened when he squinted at the screen and saw the time. He knew that his Dad would know if he didn't go to school. Even when he wasn't around, John Winchester seemed to know everything, and Dean didn't dare defy a direct order. He scrambled from his bed and grabbed some clothes from his duffel bag on his way to the bathroom, quickly changing, leaving his dirty clothes on the bathroom floor. When he emerged again, he noticed that the motel was eerily quiet, and he looked around to discover his brother and sister gone, and a note on the table in his sister's wobbly script, telling him that they had walked themselves to school, since Dean had ignored them every time they'd tried to wake him up. Dean cursed at himself and left the room, almost running to school, and appearing in his first class's doorway just as the bell rang. He breathed out a small sigh of relief, and slumped into his seat, spinning around almost immediately to Joanna, the hot, blonde cheerleader that sat behind him. He shot her a wide, charming grin, and tried to look suave, but Joanna only giggled at him.  
"Dean?" She started between laughs.

"Yes?" Dean replied coolly, not noticing her eyes flickering a little above his eyes.

"Why do you have a pink band aid on your forehead?"


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hey all :D**_

_**I think this is probably the longest I've gone between chapters on this story haha. Sorry about that, but I've been majorly busy at college this week (and I've officially applied for university YAY! I found out afterwards that there is a University of Winchester over here! I really wanted to apply hehe) but yeah, I'm going to try and make up for it by getting another chapter written and posted over the weekend (hopefully haha) I kind of planned for this to be together with what will now be the next chapter, but this felt ok on its own :) As always, I haven't read it through very thoroughly, or I'd decide that I hate it, so I'm not guarenteeing that there are no mistakes. Feel free to point them out if you spot any. There probably is to be honest haha, It's almost one in the morning here right now, but I managed to go and see one of my new favourite bands tonight, and I'm still totally buzzing! (They're called Lawson, if anyone's interested haha)**_

_**Ok, I'm going to shut up now haha**_

_**Pretty please leave me a review. They only take a sec, and I love reading them. Please please please! 3**_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 17 years old**_

_**Sam: 13 years old**_

_**Lena: 7 years old.**_

Lena couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, tangling herself up in bed sheets, knocking against Sam's long, outstretched limbs. No matter how hard she tried to squeeze her eyes closed, sleep refused to come willingly. She sighed and turned over. Again.

"Dean," she whispered "Are you awake?"

Lena listened for a second and heard the shift of springs in the other mattress.

"Yeah," Dean replied quietly, "What's up Princess?"

Lena wasn't sure that she had said anything to make Dean believe anything was 'up'. But, of course, there was, and Lena knew that she couldn't hide anything from Dean. She'd never been able to do that.

Lena couldn't stop herself from mentally replaying a conversation she'd had that afternoon in school.

"Dean," she started, a little tentatively "Why don't we have a house?"

Even in the dark, Lena could see the confused look on her brother's face when he answered "Because of Dad's job. He travels a lot, so we go with him and stay in motels."

The explanation did nothing to settle the thoughts swirling in Lena's head, so she carried on.

"Why don't we have a mom?"

"Come on Le," Dean sighed heavily "You know why."

Lena felt Sam's elbow digging into her back, and she squirmed uneasily as Dean pushed himself into a sitting position and scrutinised his sister's shadowy form.

"What's this about Elena?" he questioned softly, sensing that something was playing through her mind.

"Billy Collins told me I was a freak today because we don't have a mom and we don't have a house." Lena grumbled, fiddling around with the bed sheets.

"Well, did you tell him how cool it is that you were made in a test tube?" Dean asked. Lena had always been smart for her age, so, shortly after she'd started school, when she'd asked where babies came from, Dean told her that usually, they came from their mother's bellies. But he also told her that she was special. That she'd been made differently, and that made her perfect, because everything about her was chosen specifically to make her the person she was. Normally, Lena thought that this was pretty cool, but Dean could tell from Lena's voice that she doubted that idea now.

"He said that made me an alien." Lena shot up in bed and blinked, wide-eyed, at him "Am I an alien De?"

If it wasn't for the serious way Lena spoke, Dean would have laughed "No, you're not." He assured her firmly "And this Billy Collins kid is an _idiot_. You shouldn't listen to a word boys say Elena."

Lena sat silently for a minute, letting Dean's words sink in before furrowing her brow slightly.

"But Dean," She argued "You're a boy, and you said I should _always _listen to you."

Dean had to wonder how many times Lena was going to outsmart him before he managed to get one over on her.

"I know," he retorted "But you're my favourite girl, so that means I don't say stupid things to you."

Lena still didn't seem convinced, and Dean let out a slightly exasperated breath.

"Listen to me," he commanded gently, and waited for his sister's eyes to glitter towards him through the dark "As long as I've got you, you've got me, and we've both got Sam; we're ok. Who cares if we don't have a house?" he shrugged. Dean almost asked 'who cares if we don't have a mom?' but didn't because, frankly, he cared. But that didn't exactly fit in with his midnight motivational speech, so he left it out. "I'd like to bet that Billy Collins hasn't been to all the places you've been to. I'm sure he hasn't seen all the cool things that you have. And," Dean finished with a mischievous grin "I bet he doesn't have two seriously cool older brothers."  
Dean saw a small smile play over his sister's face as she lay back down. She didn't say anything, so Dean continued.

"You're not a freak, but even if you were, I like you just the way you are. And since I'm the only guy you need to worry about liking you, I think you're good."

Lena yawned "You promise?"

Dean smiled "I promise." He confirmed "Now go to sleep."

He watched as Lena nudged Sam to make herself a little more room, as she snuggled down into her pillow.

"Just for the record," she muttered sleepily, eyes half closed "I kind of like you too."

Dean chuckled with a smirk "Goodnight Lena."

"Goodnight Dean."

Apparently more at ease, Dean only had to wait a minute or two for Lena's soft, even breathing to filter across the room to him, and he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hey there!  
I know I said I was going to get this done over the weekend, but I realised that it was a very important chapter, so I decided to take a little longer on it to make sure it was at least half decent haha I'm not sure how well that worked, but hey ho... :) I've tried to be sort of equal between the amount of Sam/Lena sibling moments and Dean/Lena sibling moments, but I know I'm seriously lacking with Sam, so I'll try and put more in the next one :D**_

_**I know I didn't update Things that Go Bump in the Night this week, but I'm determined to get ahead a little bit more so that I'll have enough to post while I'm doing my exams in January, so I don't want to break into my back-logue of chapters just yet. I promise I'll try and get another chapter up this week :D**_

_**Please please pleeeeeaaaasssseee let me know what you think! I love to know what everyone's thinking, and ideas for other chapters are always more than welcome!**_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

_**P.S. Lena is the same age in this chapter as the last one, but this one is set afterwards :)**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 17 years old.**_

_**Sam: 13 years old**_

_**Lena: 7 years old**_

As the bell rang at the end of the day, Lena peered out the window net to her desk and spotted Sam, waiting patiently for her with his bag slung casually over one shoulder. He glanced over and saw her looking, so he shot her a smile and a wave. Lena waved back, but she furrowed her brow slightly in confusion.

_Weird, _she thought _Sam never waves. _

Dean told her that it was PMS that made Sam so grumpy all the time. She didn't know what that meant, but it sounded serious, so she tried not to take it to heart when Sam snapped at her, and now she was surprised when Sam actually smiled and didn't just mope behind his mop of hair. A few minutes later, she bounded out the doors and down the path towards him. If Sam was in a good mood, she was definitely going to make the most of it, and she slipped her hand into his outstretched fingers.

"You ready kiddo?" he asked casually.

"Yep." Lena chimed. They didn't need to wait for Dean; Lena knew he'd gone to help their father do a job, though Lena didn't know what it was, so Sam and Lena started walking towards the motel. They talked casually as they made their way down the streets. Well, _Lena _talked, and Sam listened, but that wasn't anything unusual. Sam fumbled a little with the key for the door, but Lena didn't notice as she kept up her almost constant stream of commentary. He let them in and Lena dumped her bag on the bed. She wasn't paying attention as Sam locked the door behind them, a dark, twisted smirk emerging on his face.

Sam hurried frantically down the street. He knew he was almost fifteen minutes late picking up Lena, but his teacher had wanted to speak to him, and the man wouldn't take no for an answer, so Sam figured it would be quicker to just let him talk. However, Sam had noticed that his teacher seemed to like the sound of his own voice, so he'd had no choice but to abruptly excuse himself. Sam knew that Dean had gone with their Dad to hunt down a shape-shifter in the area, so there was no one else to walk Lena back to the motel. He almost ran out of the doors, to see if Lena was waiting for him like she should have been, but the place was pretty much deserted. Panicked, Sam looked around hopefully, but he still didn't see Lena. Although, he did see Lena's teacher coming out the doors, heading towards her car, and Sam jogged over to her. The woman had long dark hair tumbling over her shoulders, and wide, bright eyes that lit up when she gave her ready smile.

"Have you seen Elena?" Sam blurted as he approached, and the grin slipped from the woman's face.

"No Honey." She replied "She left a little while ago, but I thought she went with _you?_"

Sam felt his blood run cold, and he was sure that his face has paled quite dramatically. He stammered out a thanks to the teacher and took off at a sprint, leaving the woman to stare, bewildered, after him. As he flew down the concrete streets, Sam pulled out his phone and dialled a familiar number, barely having to look at the key-pad to know it.

"What do you want Sam?" Dean snapped after what felt like an eternity of listening to the dialling tone.

"Have you found it?" Sam asked breathlessly, dodging cars as he ran over a road.

"Not yet." Dean replied a little irritably "Why?"

"I think I know where it is."

Lena was watching TV when someone started pounding on the motel door. It made her jump, and she sat for a second with her hear hammering in her throat. Sam was in the bathroom, so she got up and went over to the window, peering tentatively behind the curtain.

She had to blink a few times, sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her. It wasn't possible.

"Sam?" she asked "What are you doing out there?"

"Lena!" Sam exclaimed, spotting her through the window "Where is it?"

Lena frowned at him; confusion etched into her features "Where is what? What are you talking about?"

"Me!" Sam yelled "Where am I?"

"Sam, what are you talking about?!" Lena demanded again, trying to make sense of what her brother was saying to her. Lena heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door clicked open, and Lena felt all the blood drain from her face. She must be dreaming. This has to be a dream. She looked from one Sam to the other and felt the ground hitch below her feet, like it was trying to throw her off. _Inside _Sam smirked and sneered at her, slowly edging his way towards her. _Outside _Sam continued to bang on the door and yelled to her.

"Elena, you've got to let me in!"

Lena felt for the door handle with trembling fingers, but when she grasped it, it refused to budge in her hands, locked tight and unyielding.

"Sam, I can't do it!" Lena shouted through the wood. It didn't matter that she was convinced she was dreaming; it didn't stop her from bring terrified. She turned to look at the Sam inside, slowly advancing towards her. Lena screamed when he lunged at her, and she dived under the nearest bed and out the other side. She scrambled to grab the crowbar that Dean kept stashed under his mattress. She had no idea what was going on, but as 'Sam' leapt towards her again, she swung the metal bar as hard as she could, making it collide with his arm. Years of training with her brothers- despite the fact that Lena didn't know what they were training _for_- had left Lena stronger and fast than her size and age usually entailed, and 'Sam' howled in pain. The sickly sweet, menacing smile slipped from his face, replaced with a glowering snarl.

Lena quickly realised that standing between the two beds wasn't such a good idea, because now she had nowhere she could move to quick enough to not get caught by whatever was standing in front of her. She didn't know what made her so sure that it wasn't the real Sam. There was just something about the way he moved; the way he looked at her that just wasn't..._Sammy. _Rage made him careless, so when he went to grab her again, Lena lashed out with the crowbar, this time making contact with his head. He stumbled for a second, caught off-guard by the blow, but Lena hesitated too, shocked by what she was doing, but it was as long as he needed to whip the bar from her hands.

Her fingers resorted back to trembling. She backed up as far as the furniture would allow, but it wasn't far enough. She was trapped, and the boy in front of her twirled the cool metal mockingly between his fingers.

_Wake up now Elena_, she thought desperately, _Wake up now El-_

The door crashed open, almost thrown off its hinges by two, big, heavy boots.

"Elena, get down!"

Lena reacted immediately to the familiar sound of her father's voice, and she ducked to the floor, throwing her hands over her head instinctively. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, determined not to see whatever was going to happen next. A few loud bangs cracked through the air, and less than a second later, there was a _thud_ right next to her, but Lena still didn't open her eyes, couldn't open her eyes. Lena whimpered a little when a pair of strong hands bundled her up, and she buried her face into the worn material of her dad's jacket. She clung to him fervently, seeking comfort and solace in the musty leather. She felt her tears soaking into John's shoulder as he muttered soft assurances into her ear, telling how well she'd done, how brave she'd been, but Lena had never felt so scared. She barely heard as John told Dean and Sam to get rid of 'it', but she heard her brother's grunting under the strain of lifting whatever 'it' was. A minute later, the door clicked closed, and they were gone.

It was almost two hours later when Dean and Sam let themselves back into the motel room. Dean had angrily grilled Sam about being so careless, but deep down, he knew it wasn't the kid's fault. He just needed someone to be mad at. And he knew that nothing he could say to Sam would make him feel any worse than he already did. Streaks of guilt were present behind Sam's eyes, and as soon as Dean realised that everything he wanted to say to his little brother was accusing, he just remained silent.

They'd driven for twenty-five minutes out of the town they were staying in to find somewhere to burn the shape-shifter's body. The town was so small and isolated that they needn't have gone that far out to be completely deserted, but they had to be sure that they wouldn't be spotted burning a body.

It was silent when the brothers walked into the motel room. The TV was switched off, and John was sat at the table, cleaning a gun. He looked morose as he glanced up at his sons, but he didn't say anything. Lena was sat, cross-legged, on one of the beds with the earphones for Sam's walkman pressed into her ears. Her eyes were in her lap, and she still sniffed slightly, but she wasn't crying anymore at least. Dean perched himself on the edge of the bed next to her, but when he tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders comfortingly, Lena shrugged him off and turned away. Dean mentally groaned; it was clear to both Sam and Dean that Lena now knew about 'the family business' and no matter how hard he tried, Dean couldn't work out exactly what was going on in his little sister's head. She glanced at him momentarily as she got up and went to the bathroom, gently closing the door behind herself, though it rang louder than if she had slammed it shut.

The innocent sparkle was gone from Lena's eyes, and Dean knew that it wasn't coming back.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Hey guys!**_

_**I know it's been a while again, but I've been super busy this week :) This one's kind of short, but for once, I think I actually like it haha It's pure Sam and Lena fluff, but so far I know I've seriously neglected Sam's involvement with Lena growing up, so I was determined to put it in :)**_

_**I forgot to put it on the last chapter, but the ideas for that one and this one were sweetkiwi604's! I'm not sure how many more of these there will be, since Lena's getting older, but if anyone's got any ideas for Lena between the ages of 9 and 12, I'd really appreciate them!**_

_**Please R+R!  
Peace out**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 19 years old**_

_**Sam: 15 years old**_

_**Lena: 9 years old**_

Sam edged a little closer to his sister's bed. He could just see the top of her head poking out from under her cocoon of blankets. As she was getting older, her hair was getting darker, and it was slowly going from the blonde ringlets that used to make their father melt at her every whim, to a colour much closer to her brothers'.

It was quiet in the motel room. Too quiet, considering Lena was there. It was honestly freaking him out. Dean and John had gone out on a hunt, but Sam had been forced to stay behind with Lena. Usually, it was hard to make his sister shut up, so Sam wasn't used to the fact that the only sounds coming from her were haggard snores.

Sick Lena was no fun. At all.

The command Dean had given him right before leaving still rang in Sam's ears _'Take care of Lena'_. Sam had rolled his eyes because, seriously, despite what Dean seemed to think, he did know what he was doing.

Sam had to peel off layers of quilt to press a hand to Lena's forehead, noting that she still had a fever. Her face was pale, and covered in a sheen of clammy sweat, but she shivered profusely, as if he'd flung all the windows open in the middle of winter. Sam brushed her hair from her face, and Lena groggily pushed him away and turned over, mumbling incoherently and tangling herself up in bed sheets. Sam thought she'd gone back to sleep, but he heard her mumbling into the pillow.

"Where's Dad?" she asked, following it up with a feeble cough.

"He and Dean went out." Sam replied simply, because he knew he didn't have to elaborate for Lena to know what he was talking about.

"I'm sorry Sammy." She apologized almost inaudibly, and Sam perched himself on the edge of her bed.

"What are you sorry for Le?" he questioned, furrowing his brow slightly in confusion.

Lena sniffed weakly, turning over again to face him, blinking up with dazed eyes "I know you wanted to go with them."

Sam couldn't deny that he had been a little bit irritated that he couldn't go on the hunt, but he understood why he couldn't. It was just one of those things that no one could do anything about, and he'd soon get over it.

He shrugged "I'm sure they'll be other spirits."

"Well, that's comforting." Lena commented dryly, and Sam chuckled lightly.

"You hungry?" He asked, and Lena grimaced at the idea and shook her head. Sam looked around and saw Lena's old, battered copy of '_Around the world in eighty days' _lying on the bedside table.

"Want me to read to you?" he suggested, leaning down and slipping off his boots. Lena seemed to think for a minute before giving a small nod. Sam kicked his shoes just under the edge of the bed and picked up the book.

"Alright, move over." He told her, pulling back the cover a little to get in next to her.

"What?" Lena queried, looking at him like he'd just suggested they scale the Empire State building "Sam no, you'll get sick too."

Sam simply raised his eyebrows "Do I look like I care?" He asked, nudging her with his knee "Come on, shove up."

Still looking taken aback, Lena shuffled over on the mattress, and just to prove a point, Sam pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Lena laid her head heavily on his chest, listening to the regular thumping of his heart beat. Sam opened the book and started to read, and after a few minutes of listening, sleep enveloped Lena, despite her attempts at fighting it off, and her eyelids drooped.

When Dean and John returned a few hours later, dirty and tired, they were greeted by the sight of Sam and Lena sleeping, with the book still clamped between Sam's fingers. When they saw that the two youngest seemed relatively at peace, John and Dean crept around quietly. John went into the bathroom to change, and Dean crossed straight over to his brother and sister. He pressed a grubby palm to Lena's face, relieved that it seemed cooler than it had done when he'd left. She no longer trembled, and she looked more rested than she had in days.

Dean slipped the book out of Sam's hand, returning it to its place on the table before pulling the covers further up over the two of them.

Dean smiled and whispered "Good job Sammy."


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Hey guys :)**_

_**I know it's been a while again, but college is crazy at the moment, so I haven't had as much time to write as I'd like :(**_

_**Anyway, moving on...**_

_**I really don't like this chapter, but I needed something to fill the time space between my ideas, because I didn't want to have three years between chapters again, so yeah...I apologize in advance for the craptasticness of this :D**_

_**Let me know what you think! R+R :D**_

_**Love lots,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 20 years old**_

_**Sam: 16 years old**_

_**Lena: 10 years old**_

Dean looked down at his watch. Again. It was a Friday afternoon, so once the bell had gone, it didn't take long for everyone to leave the vicinity of the school.

Except Lena hadn't come out.

Dean shifted from foot to foot, while Sam wandered restlessly. They'd always been taught not to hang around, so Lena was usually one of the first to appear out of the doors. Less than thirty seconds passed. After _last time_, Dean and Sam were both conscious about leaving Lena alone, and they knew that she wouldn't walk back to the motel on her own, so she must have still been in school. They would have seen her come out, Dean was sure of it.

His watch made a whole circuit before Dean let out a heavy, shaky breath.

"Screw this," he muttered "Come on Sam."

He strode firmly down the pathway, Sam hurrying to keep up, and they crashed through the doors.

Dean went straight to Lena's classroom. Right from day one, he worked out exactly where it was, just as he did at every school. He peered through the glass in the door first, seeing Lena sitting at a desk on the front row, squinting up at the board and then down at her page, writing frantically. She jumped when Dean barged his way into the room, as did Lena's heavy-set, white-haired battleaxe of a teacher, who looked like she was constantly sucking a lemon. She started to screech at Sam and Dean, but Dean had long since lost his patience, so he and Sam simply scooped Lena's things into her bag pack and bustled her out of the room without so much as a glance at the hysteric teacher.

"You wanna tell me what all that was about Princess?" Dean barked, unintentionally harsh as Lena hurried to keep up with Dean's irritated stride.

"I didn't finish my work," Lena mumbled, her cheeks flushing a little with shame "But I told her!" she finished defensively.

"Told her what?" Dean asked, consciously softening his tone after seeing the guilty pink in Lena's face.

"That I couldn't see what she was writing." Lena explained as her brothers slowed their paces "It was too small, and a little blurry."

"Blurry?" Sam questioned, furrowing his brow, and Lena nodded.

"Dean," Sam started, turning to his brother "I think she needs an eye test."

Instead of going back to the motel room, they headed to the mall. They waited patiently in the optician's, though Lena fidgeted nervously, chatting to fill the tinny whir in the void.

"My teacher's going to be so mad tomorrow." She muttered anxiously.

"Yeah, well, Dad'll be back tonight. We won't even be here tomorrow." Dean answers as he flicked idly through one of the slightly outdated magazines. A receptionist called Lena's name, and she stood up gingerly.

"You want us to come with you?" Sam asked with a comforting smile.

"Psssht," Lena scoffed, feigning nonchalance. "No. I'm Elena Mary Winchester."

"And you're awesome." Dean finished with a grin. Lena took a deep breath and strode confidently into the examination room.

Lena tried _really _hard not to look upset when she walked out again. She'd hoped to not need glasses, but obviously, with Winchester luck, she hadn't been so fortunate. As Lena and Sam looked around at frames, Dean listened intently as the Doctor told him that the lenses Lena needed were fairly strong, but once Lena picked out some frames, they would be done in an hour. Lena slumped half-heartedly as they did some window shopping. Sam and Dean attempted to lighten the mood, but nothing really seemed to work. They decided to grab some dinner while they waited, and Lena flopped her head onto her hands.

"As if I wasn't weird enough already." She complained.

"Hey, I'm weird, and I got through school alright." Dean commented as she chomped on French fries. Lena glared at him from under her eyebrows.

"Dean, you _hated _school."

"That's not the point." Dean replied, not being able to think of a decent enough come back.

By the time they were done, it had been close to an hour, so they headed back. Her glasses were finished, so as the Doctor explained to Lena how to look after her them, Dean and Sam waited nearby. Looking around, Sam noticed a box on the counted, and a mischievous grin spread across his face when he saw the contents. He nudged Dean, and they searched through until they found the right items and paid for them, hiding them away until the right moment. Dean used one of his bogus credit cards to pay for the glasses. She went to push them into her pocket, but Dean quickly stopped her.

"Don't you want to put them on?" he asked.

"Not particularly." Lena replied dryly.

"Oh come on Le." Dean chimed "If you wear yours, me and Sam'll wear ours."

Lena scrunched up her nose "Yours?"

Dean and Sam grinned at each other and dipped their hands into the pockets, slipping their purchases onto their faces. Sam's newly bought glasses were oversized, pink, and love heart shaped, while Dean's fake glasses had a plastic nose and moustache attached. Lena giggled heartily, put on her own glasses and, walking around the mall just to prove a point, hers didn't seem so bad compared to her brothers'.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Hey guys!  
I know it's been way too long, but I've been so busy with college at the moment, it's crazy! It's been a few weeks since I updated TTGBITN, so I really tried to get this up over the weekend, but obviously, it didn't work out that way haha.**_

_**I haven't read through it, so if there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out haha**_

_**The next chapter for Hands and Feet will be a Christmas one! Anyone up for that?**_

_**A huge thanks to anyone who has left me any reviews/PMs! I appreciate them so much, I can't even explain!**_

_**I'm going to shut now I promise hehe**_

_**Please R+R!**_

_**Peace out m'lovelies!**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 21 years old**_

_**Sam: 17 years old**_

_**Lena: 11 years old**_

The air inside the impala was tense and apprehensive. Lena looked out of the window and saw the clear black sky, twinkling with bright stars. It was almost like they were mocking her, being falsely optimistic when Lena was nothing more than scared.

They were supposed to be leaving. She'd subtly packed up her things at school, knowing that she wouldn't be returning the next day. Lena had been excited about going to Uncle Bobby's for a few days, but John had gotten a call from a hunting friend about a vampire, and since they were going to be on the road anyway, John had decided that they would take a little detour to sort out the problem.

Dean hadn't been happy, but he accepted the situation. Sam had been livid. Lena could tell before either of them even opened their mouths. John knew how his boys felt about the unexpected addition to their trip, and Dean had stayed quiet about it, but Sam clearly felt the need to voice his opinions. Very loudly. It had ended up with them all leaving an hour later than they had planned, and Sam and John barely speaking to each other for countless miles. Lena and Dean had tried to fill the empty void inside the car, but they both got the impression that their attempts were not appreciated, so they stopped after a while too.

They had driven for hours in a suffocating silence, and Lena was just glad that when they finally did arrive, Sam listened to his instructions without any argument. When the plan was established, Lena opened her door to get out, but she felt Dean's wrist clamp around her wrist stop her.

"Lena, you stay here." John barked. Lena opened her mouth to argue, but the dark glare she earned from her father, paired with the bad mood he was already in, kept Lena from speaking. She fiddled with her seatbelt while her father and brothers gathered weapons from the trunk, not wanting to see them disappear into the uncertainty of night-time with a vampire hanging around. She looked up when her door was opened, and her father leaned in, pressing a blade and a syringe of what Lena knew was dead man's blood into her hand.

"Lock the doors," He instructed "We'll be back soon."

Lena looked over to where Sam and Dean were waiting vigilantly, and she caught a wink from Dean and a small, reassuring smile from Sam, though neither made her feel any better.

Despite herself, Lena watched them go, and she saw them split up a little way down the path ahead of them, and in a blink, the three of them had disappeared into the night.

She tapped her fingers impatiently on the seat. She checked her watch.

10:27.

She fidgeted, ran her finger through her hair, tied and retied her shoe laces, and checked her watch again.

10:28.

She leaned over the front seat of the impala and started to dog around in the cassette box for some music to distract her, but none of it held the same appeal as it usually did, so she gave up and slumped back in her seat.

They'd left at ten. With the three of them after a lone vamp, Lena couldn't help but think that they should be back by now. She bit her lip anxiously and before she had time to dispute the thought, Lena opened the door and slid out of the car. It locked automatically behind her, and she harsh metallic click of the finality of her decision to find her family. A threatening, cold breeze blew over her, lifting her hair and freezing her skin, so she pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself and gripped tightly onto the knife her father had given her. It was hard to see where she was going in the dark, and she had to squint through her glasses to make sure she wasn't going to walk into anything. She wasn't sure whose path she was following, but she didn't really mind who she ran into, providing it wasn't the vampire.

As she rounded a corner, the area in front of her was illuminated with a single security light, but it was enough for her to make out crates of wood and other building materials.

Lena froze. She was sure she heard something. Lena strained her ears, and she was sure that she was hearing things, being paranoid, but then she caught it again. A faint, distressed groaning, and her blood ran cold when she recognised it as Dean.

She hurried towards the sound and crouched behind a crate, peering around it until she spotted her oldest brother lying on the ground, an angry, teeth-baring vampire pinning him down, getting closer and closer to the tender flesh of Dean's neck.

Lena pulled herself back. She knew she had to do _something_, but she didn't know what. She rapidly scanned the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sam or their Dad, but the only thing that caught her eye was Dean's machete, lying uselessly on the ground a little way from her.

Lena braced herself on the balls of her feet, took a deep, shaky breath and dove for the blade. She was silent and swift as she crept up behind the vampire. She knew what she had to do, and while she wasn't sure that she was strong enough to do the job completely, she at least had to get the man away from Dean.

Dean didn't even see her until she pulled the blade back and swung it as hard as she could. She involuntarily held her breath, but she let it out in a choke as she was sprayed with blood and the vampire's head rolled away, its body slumping on top of Dean. Overcome with fear, Lena rushed forwards, and didn't even think about the fact that she was pushing a body away.

"Dean, are you ok?" She breathed desperately, searching his body for injuries and seeing nothing more than cuts.

"Lena!?" Dean exclaimed "I thought Dad told you to stay in the car?!"

Lena was panting hard as she sat back on her rear and dropped the machete, leaving it to clatter on the asphalt underneath them. "You're welcome."

Lena shrank under her father's livid stares as they clambered back into the car. She stripped out of her bloodstained jacket, though there was nothing she could do about the crimson on her face, hands and in her hair. She wanted nothing more than to change and wash up, but they were close to Bobby's, and they couldn't exactly stop at a gas station with two of them covered in blood.

Lena knew she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, they were parked in Singer's salvage yard, the sun was dragging itself into the sky, and Sam was gently nudging her awake.

She got out and followed Sam around to the trunk, where Dean and John were fishing out their bags.

"Boys, why don't you go on inside," John suggested firmly, leaving no room for argument "I'd like to talk to your sister."  
Lena watched her brothers nod obediently and grab their things. When they were gone, John went to silently organising the weapons for a few agonisingly long moments before he spoke.

"You disobeyed a direct order today Elena."

By her father's tone, Lena knew that she was in trouble, though it was nowhere near as harsh as she had expected.

"Yes sir." She grumbled, looking down at her worn sneakers.

"I told you to stay in the car." John continued gruffly.

"Yes sir." Lena repeated, keeping her eyes low for a second before daring to lift them, and instead of seeing an angry face, her father seemed more conflicted than anything.

John let out a deep sigh "The thing is, if you'd have listened to me, your brother might be dead right now, or worse."

Lena didn't have to ask what her father meant by 'worse', though she personally didn't agree with the notion that a dead Dean was better than a vampire Dean. Lena's response was simply a sniff, because she wasn't sure what to say that wasn't going to land her in more trouble than she was already in.

"You know that I only give you orders to keep you safe, right?" John asked, and Lena nodded earnestly. "Because I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, or your brothers."

"I know Dad." Lena assured him quietly.

"Alright," John answered, grabbing the remaining bags and tossing them over his shoulder and closed the trunk. He then wrapped an arm around Lena's shoulders and they walked towards Bobby's house. "You still have to clean the weapons for a week" John added, and Lena grinned. She knew that was a light sentence, and she didn't mind.

Bobby was waiting for them on the doorstep, and he smiled when he saw them.

"Hi Uncle Bobby." Lena greeted cheerfully as they approached.

"Mornin' sweet pea." Bobby replied, reaching out to pull Lena into a hug that was customary to their arrival each and every time.

"Don't touch me," Lena laughed, leaning away "I'm gross."

"Come here ya idgit." Bobby grumbled, pulling her close. Lena took in the familiarly comforting smell of whiskey and motor oil that followed Bobby everywhere he went."Go clean up with your brothers." He said when he finally released her "Breakfast is almost done."

Lena nodded and disappeared up the stairs. The bathroom door was slightly ajar when she walked up to it, so she simply went straight in.

"Hey Princess." Dean greeted, overly cheerfully, seeing the slightly contorted look on her face, as if she was having an internal debate with herself and losing. "Was Dad hard on you?"

"Nope." Lena replied casually, wetting a corner of a towel and working to clean the blood out of her hair.

"Then what's wrong Le?" Sam questioned, concern etched into his features.

Lena considered lying, telling them that she was fine, but she knew that her brothers would be able to tell, so she didn't bother.

"That vampire," She started gingerly "When he was human, do you think he had a family?"

"You can't think like that Elena," Dean groaned "You did what you had to do, end of story."

Lena gave a small nod but Dean could tell that she wasn't convinced. After the blood was gone from her hair, Lena pulled it up into a ponytail, and quickly wiped away the blood from her face. Finally, she went into the room that always served as her bedroom when they went to Bobby's and changed her clothes, leaving the stained ones on the floor until she could find the energy to pick them up. She heard Bobby yelling up the stairs that breakfast was ready, and Dean knocked on her door on the way past. The three of them walked down into the kitchen together, where Bobby was scooping piles of scrambled eggs and toast onto their plates. Sam and Dean dug right in, but Lena started off only nibbling the corner of some toast until Bobby boomed that she wasn't leaving the table until her plate was empty 'cause ya need some food in your gut madam.'

As they started, Dean kept a watchful eye on his sister. He saw the fake smile she had plastered on her face. He hoped that she was going to be ok, because honestly, he'd known that this day was inevitably going to come, but he'd hoped to prolong it for longer.

If he'd though it was going to change things with Lena knowing about 'the family business', now it was going to be cataclysmic, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Howdy folkes! I know it's been a little while again since I posted, but I promised a christmas chapter, and so...**_

_**Christmas chapter!**_

_**I actually think I like this one! It's toooo crappy haha**_

_**Christmas is going to be manic in my house, and when I go back to college, I'll be swamped with exams, so this might be the last update I make for a few weeks :( But I promise, after the end of January, I'm going to post so many things to make it up to you lovely people, you'll probably get sick of me haha I will update Things that go bump in the night over the next few days to complete the 'episode' but the same goes for that story too...I hate exams...**_

_**I'm thinking of doing a one-shot tag to Bloody Mary, because it's been in my head all day (it doesn't fit in here because it's not pre-series, but I don't think it will flow properly with the main story either, so it'll be on its own), so if I get time I might make a start on that one tomorrow. If anyone wants me to message them or something when/if I decide post it, let me know!**_

_**Right, I'm going to be quiet now... please R+R! Let me know what you think!**_

_**If I don't get chance to say it again...**_

_**Merry Christmas!**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 21 years old**_

_**Sam: 17 years old**_

_**Lena: 11 years old**_

Dean spotted a few of the kids he recognised from Lena's class, and slid from the front seat of the impala, leaving Sam to carry on looking through the homework he had been given for over the holidays. Dean honestly didn't know why Sam was bothering; by the time they had to return to school, they'd have moved again, probably several times, but he let the kid think it was going to make a difference. Lena eventually trudged out of the doors, bundled up in a large coat, a grey hat, a purple scarf and fluffy gloves, stomping footsteps into the thick, white sheet on the ground. Dean noticed immediately the stormy look on her face, and he started walking up the path to meet her.

"What's up kiddo?" he asked cheerfully. Lena simply shrugged and waited semi-patiently while Dean adjusted her hat to cover her ears.

They drove to the motel in relative silence, with only the gently thrum of the radio as a distraction. A few times, Dean shot a glance at his sister in the rear view mirror. He could tell that something was bothering her; but that was nothing new since the vampire incident a few weeks before. Since then, Lena had become quiet and subdued, often waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares. Dean really wished there was something he could do to make things easier for his little sister, and he would have given anything to take away the hurt she was feeling. But there nothing he could do or say to change anything, and that infuriated him to no end.

Sam still had his face in a book when Dean unlocked the motel room door and let them all in. Lena tossed her bag on the floor with a thump, stripped of her coat, hat, scarf and gloves, and Dean watched her curiously as she snatched up her bag, walked across the room and emptied the contents into the trash.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Dean exclaimed as he noticed the glitter and drawings as they tumbled from her bag "what are you doing?"  
"They're Christmas decorations that we _had _to make." Lena grumbled dismally, shaking out her bag to rid it of the last sparkles that danced downwards.

"Why are you throwing them away?!"

Lena looked at her eldest brother with an irritated glance "Dean, we don't have a _tree._"

Dean often wondered how his eleven year old sister could make his feel like a complete moron, even when he wasn't being one. As if he hadn't noticed that they _didn't have a tree._

"I am aware of that, thank you Elena," he replied sarcastically before softening his expression "but we can still put them up."

Lena rolled her eyes and shrugged "Whatever. Do what you want, I don't care. It's all going to suck anyway."

The spectacle had caught Sam's attention by this point, and he and Dean watched, bemused, as Lena grabbed her duffel bag and stomped over to the bathroom. They stayed silent, watching the closed door for a second before the shower started up.

"I thought we at least had until she was thirteen before we had to put up with the attitude." Dean pondered out loud, making Sam scoff.

"Dude, since when does anything we do play by ordinary rules?"

A few hours later, long after the sun had dipped below the skyline and blanketed the world in night, Lena had barely said two words to her brothers. Dean and Sam left her alone, but Dean's mind was whirring with so many thoughts, he actually considered the possibility that there might be steam coming out of his ears. Sam was sat at the table, reading a textbook-_again - _and Lena was watching tv across the other side of the room. Dean wandered around restlessly, trying to think of a way to set his plan in motion.

Then it hit him.

"Sam," he said suddenly, making both his siblings jump "why don't you take Lena and get some food, huh?"

Sam seemed like he was about to protest, but Dean shot him the '_don't argue with me, just do it'_ look, and Sam nodded obediently. Lena grumbled and muttered to herself, but she stood up and started piling on her coat again anyway. Dean handed Sam a few notes from his wallet, and Sam scrunched up his face a little.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked curiously.

Dean shrugged nonchalantly "Nah. You guys go ahead though, get whatever you want."

Sam nodded again, confusion etched into his features as he pulled on his jacket. Lena stalked out the door, barely throwing a 'see ya later' over her shoulder. Sam went to follow her, but Dean put out a hand to stop him.

"Sam, take your time, ok?"

Sam had to think for a second before a flicker of recognition crossed over his features. He didn't know what his big brother was planning, but from the cocky grin on Dean's face, Sam knew he was planning _something._

Dean watched Sam and Lena cross the parking lot and round the corner. Then he gave it a few minutes, just for good measure, before grabbing his own jacket and going out the impala. He had two or three stops to make before he was done, with a lot more to do afterwards, and an unknown time to do it in. He just hoped that Sam had got the message, and would keep Lena occupied for a little while.

Lena was getting irritated. First, Sam had dragged his feet getting to the diner, making a five minute journey last almost fifteen. Then he spent so long deciding what he wanted to eat- _finally _choosing burger- that Lena could have made it from scratch, including rearing the cow, in less time. After that, Sam had apparently decided it was necessary to make a long comment after each bite, so Lena polished off her plate before Sam was even halfway done with his. There hadn't been many people in the small diner when they'd arrived, but by the time Lena was finally being permitted to put her coat on to leave, they were the only ones left. Before she managed to get to the door, however, Sam started to consider whether or not to take a slice of pie back to the motel for Dean. Lena agreed, just to get him to hurry up so they could leave, just so that she could fall into bed and pretend her crappy day at school hadn't happened. She had to sit and pretend to be excited about Christmas all day, listening to the other kids talking about how much they were looking forward to Christmas day, and about all the traditions they had and how much fun it was going to be. The closest thing to a tradition the Winchesters had was being in a different place every year. It had only gone from bad to worse when they'd all been asked to share with the class what they were hoping to get, and Lena knew that her cheeks had flushed violently when she'd made up her Christmas list, because honestly, where was she supposed to put a bike, or a playstation, or a keyboard like all the other kids were asking for?

By the time she and Sam stepped out of the diner, a few flakes of snow were falling daintily to the ground, filling in the holes that shoes had made in the already white concrete. Sam tried to drag his feet on the way back too, but Lena ploughed ahead, and Sam hurried to keep up with her. She noticed Sam chewing his lip anxiously as the approached their room, but she ignored it because she couldn't quite bring herself to care why he was doing it, so instead she simply grabbed the door handle and let herself in.

Lena couldn't suppress the little surprised gasp that escaped her mouth when she walked in. If Dean hadn't been sitting on the end of one of the beds, she might have believed that she'd walked into the wrong room by mistake.

Delicate paper snowflakes hung at various lengths from the ceiling, twirling gently from the movement of the door opening and closing again. The room's main light was switched off, but the place was illuminated by small fairy lights that twinkled along the walls. The furniture was adorned with tinsel, and large, elaborate streamers were strung up wherever there was space. Spotted strategically around the room so that they were hard not to notice, were the decorations that Lena had made at school, and it was obvious that Dean had taken care to prioritise them. The television hummed gently with the sound of '_Miracle on 34__th__ street'_, and on the table was a stack of other festive DVDs that Dean had rented just as the store was closing for the night.

"Wow." Lena breathed as she took in the warm atmosphere of the room, and even Sam had to admit that he was impressed.

"Well," Dean grinned, noticing the broad beam on his baby sister's face "are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come and watch this with me?"

Lena happily shrugged out of her coat and bounded across to the bed. Nothing was more obvious than the increase in Lena's mood. Dean playfully pulled Lena's hat, still on her head, over her eyes, and she shoved him cheerfully as he got up and wondered over to Sam.

"How'd you put all this together so fast?" Sam asked quietly, still surveying the room.

"It's amazing what crap you can get from a gas station four days before Christmas." Dean chuckled proudly before clapping his little brother on the chest "Come on Sasquatch; if I've got to sit through these, so do you."

Usually, Sam would have objected, but Lena's good mood was infectious, so he followed Dean over to the bed, and followed Lena's lead of clambering under the covers. Lena snuggled in-between her brothers, the three of them only just fitting on the bed, and a thought suddenly occurred to her.

For the first time in her life, Lena realised that it didn't matter if they had a tree. It didn't matter that she wouldn't wake up on Christmas morning with presents to unwrap, and it definitely didn't matter that they didn't have the strange great-aunt that always drank a _little_ too much and ended up crashed on the couch and snored. The pretty lights were irrelevant, the decorations were a nice touch, but still not necessarily needed, and the movies were neither here nor there.

Lena had all she needed- they were right next to her- and that was never going to change.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N:**** Hey guys! I know it's a little late, but happy new year!**_

_**I was determined to post a chapter this weekend before I got back to college on Monday (:'( ) because I know it's more than likely going to be a few weeks before I can again since I've got exams (boooooo!) I only intended this to be a short little one, since it wasn't even one I'd originally planned on doing, but when I started, it ended up being a bit longer than anticipated lol **_

_**I realised the other day that I'd barely written anything about John at all (I know the story is about brother/sister moments, but come on, John's still preeety imprortant too lol) and the little bit that I had written, he was a bit of an ass (In the one where Lena was sick, I forget which one, and he pretty much walks straight past her when he gets back from his hunt). So I decided to make him nice for a little while. I've planned one more where John is in the chapter a little more, but he's going to be an ass in that one too (Probably the next one) :/ **_

_**I'm hoping to update He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother tomorrow, so if you haven't read the first chapter of that yet, please check it out and let me know what you think! It's a little different, but hopefully not in a bad way!**_

_**Okie doke, enough out of me! Please R+R! Much appreciated!**_

_**Peace and love,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 21 years old**_

_**Sam: 17 years old**_

_**Lena: 11 years old**_

_Lena heard the soles of her sneakers slap on the wet concrete as she ran. It was cold, and she wasn't wearing a jacket, but her fear kept her from noticing. The only movement Lena could register was her own-there was no one else around, but Lena couldn't help but find it bittersweet. Being alone meant that the vampire that was chasing her wasn't around, but it also meant that her father and brothers were nowhere to be seen either. Her head spun-she couldn't remember when she'd last seen her family, couldn't hear the last conversation they'd had, couldn't pinpoint what she'd been doing all day. Even when she thought hard-like, _really_ racked her brains-she didn't even know how she'd got to be where she was, wherever that might be. All she knew was that there was a vengeful vampire on a rampage, somewhere close, and he was looking for her, so she'd better _run.

_It was night, or early morning, Lena couldn't be sure which. It was dark either way. The buildings around her were illuminated by overly bright security lights, casting eerie shadows all around her. _

_Lena kept sprinting, looking for a way out, _any_ way out, to get back to Sam, or Dean or Dad, or anyone that wasn't a freakin' vampire._

_Dead end. Walls surrounded her on three sides, and there was nowhere else to go. Lena knew she couldn't just turn around and go back the way she came. The vampire was somewhere back there. Now that she'd stopped moving, all she could hear was her heart thumping in her ears, and her own laboured breathing coming out in sharp, short huffs._

_And then more breathing. Breathing that wasn't hers._

_He started to laugh as he rounded the corner. A cold, demonic cackle that sent chills shooting down Lena's spine._

_He looked just the same as he had done that day, months ago now, with Dean. The place was the same, what they were both wearing was the same, and if Lena had had a watch at hand, she would have guessed that the time was the same too. _

_The difference was that now Dean wasn't there to give her a purpose, to boost her courage, and most importantly, she didn't have anything to use as a weapon. Usually, Lena kept a blade in the waistline of her pants. It wouldn't have killed him, but it might have bought her some time. Where was the damn blade?  
Lena backed against the wall, getting as far away as possible, and the vampire shot her a wide, menacing grin before baring his teeth and lunging towards her..._

Lena shot up in her bed as she jolted awake. Her hair was plastered to her face with a cold, clammy sweat. She was panting as panic gripped at her, making her whole body tremble before realisation started to ebb into her head, and she felt herself calming down. Moonlight filtered in through the gap in the curtains in their room at Bobby's, casting a little light over the room. Springs creaked slightly as Dean shifted next to her, and Sam continued to sleep peacefully in the bed beside the one Dean and Lena were sharing.

After a few dragging seconds, Lena let it sink in that it had all been just a dream, that she was fine and safe and ok. She drew her knees up to her chest and just focused on getting air into her lungs, and she ran a hand over her face. Lena let out a long sigh and went to lie down again to settle back to sleep.

Then she heard a crash and a muffled cry from downstairs.

Real things she could deal with. Lena didn't even hesitate before reaching under the mattress and retrieving the cold metal crowbar that Dean _always _put there, no matter where they were. She slid from the bed, leaving her brothers asleep, and swiftly crossed the room, listening at the door. More movements downstairs. The door creaked slightly when she eased it open, but Sam and Dean barely stirred, so she carried on out to the landing. Bobby snored, but other than that, the house was completely still. All the same, Lena padded down the stairs, on bare, nimble feet, crowbar poised, until she had gotten about halfway down, and she could see into most of the downstairs of Bobby's home.

Lena didn't know exactly what she had been expecting to find, but it wasn't the familiar dark haired, stubble-faced hunter she saw.

"Dad?" She whispered, furrowing her brow. John spun around and looked at her, surprised etched into his features.

"Elena, what are you doing out of bed?" He shot back quietly, giving her a stern glance.

"I thought I heard something." Lena replied, realising that she was still holding up the crowbar, so she quickly lowered it.

"Oh, I hit my toe off the table leg." John admitted, slightly sheepishly, and if Lena hadn't known her father better, she would have said that his cheeks were colouring a little. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

Lena shook her head, and John gave her a puzzled look.

"Then what were you doing awake young lady?"

Lena bit her bottom lip and decided to inspect her feet a little, rather than answering. She knew that it had been months since she'd killed that vampire. She knew that Sam and Dean didn't have nightmares the same night they killed something, never mind weeks afterwards. She doubted her father even batted an eyelid at it anymore.

John seemed to guess what his daughter's silence meant, and his expression softened a little.

"Come here Princess." He cooed gently, beaconing her over to the old couch in the living room. Lena obeyed and followed him over, leaving the crowbar at the bottom of the stairs, and sat down next to her father, sinking into his side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

They sat for a few minutes in silence as John absent-mindedly rubbed his large, calloused hand along Lena's arm.

"You want to talk about it kiddo?" John finally asked. Lena quickly shook her head, and buried her face a little further into the familiar comfort of her father's shirt.

"I want to show you something." John suddenly blurted, getting up and going over to his duffel bag, still under the kitchen table since he hadn't been up to bed yet. Lena watched him curiously as he rummaged around to the bottom, and after a minute, she saw him pull his hand out. He had a small smile on his face, but Lena couldn't see what was in his hand, so she guessed it was small. He went back over to the couch and motioned for Lena to hold out her hand, which she did, and he dropped a silver bracelet into her palm. She let out an impressed breath and gently probed at the chain, revealing six delicate charms, including a Celtic knot, a pentagram and an Ankh.

"Dad," Lena whispered "this is so pretty."

"They're for protection." John explained "from different cultures. You'll be a bit safer with that on."

Lena's eyes widened "It's for me?"

"Well," John chuckled lightly "I don't think it would look so good on one your brothers now, would it?"

John felt his chest swell a little when Lena's eyes glittered with excitement, and he helped her put it on, though his large fingers struggled slightly with the tiny clasp. When it was on, Lena continued to inspect it lovingly, handling each little charm with such care, as if she thought they might break if she applied more than a whisper of pressure to them.

"I like this one," she announced after a few minutes, pointing out the Egyptian Eye of Ra. "it's my favourite."

_It was your mother's too._ John thought but didn't say. Looking at his daughter, John couldn't help but catch flashing glimpses of his wife. Lena's hair was darker, like her brothers', but she did look more like Mary than Sam and Dean did. They shared the same bright eyes, the same kind smile, and the same big heart and fierce passion. Especially when it came to the boys. Both Mary and Lena would have done anything for Sam and Dean, no matter what.

John knew that Mary would be mad as hell for bringing them up the way he had, in the hunter's life, but it had been the only thing John had known _how_ to do since he'd lost Mary. And it was too late for all three of them now for John to take them away from it all. Before Lena had found out about it all, he'd still had a slight chance, but now, particularly after she'd already made her first kill, there was no going back. This was the life Sam and Lena had ever known, and Dean had been too young to remember more than snippets of his life before.

But John was determined that once _the _demon was gone, dead, he'd take all three of them away. Away from killing, away from hunting, and introduce them to something with some semblance of normality.

And when John Winchester decided he was going to do something, it was as good as done.

* * *

**_A/N 2: Btw, incase I didn't make it clear, through this crappy-ass piece of writing, the bracelet that John gives Lena is the one that Mary has in the episode where Dean goes back in time (I can't remember what season...). The one that makes Dean realise that Mary was a hunter. I tried to get that across without John actually saying it to Lena, but I don't know how well I did lol_**

**_Anyway, thanks so much for sticking with me this far! _**


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Hey guys! **_

**_I know it's been forever since I updated Hands and Feet, but I've just had so much going on with christmas and exams that_ _I haven't had as much time to write as I'd like to! But, exams are over for a few months, so I'm slowly getting back on track haha._**

**_I recently finished a little mini-fic thing about the time directly after Jess died between episodes 1 and 2, called 'He ain't Heavy, he's my brother'. If you haven't seen that, I'd appreciate it if you could check it out! :)_**

**_I have ideas for three more chapters of this story, but if anyone has anymore, I'd love to hear them! I promise to update a little quicker now, and I'll try to get another chapter of 'Things that go bump in the night' up before the end of the week!_**

**_As always, I LOVE reviews, so please please please let me know what you think! _**

**_xoloveJBox_**

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 22 years old**_

_**Sam: 18 years old**_

_**Lena: 12 years old**_

The late afternoon August sun beat down mercilessly, bouncing off the dry, dusty dirt of singer's salvage yard.

Lena hit the ground with an 'oomph' as she once again found Dean on top of her, pinning her down, for about the millionth time that day.

"Do it again." John barked "Lena, you're not even trying anymore.'

"Yes I am." Lena growled with a scowl as Dean got to his feet and reached out a hand to pull her up too.

John scoffed "Yeah, right. You barely moved that time."

"Dad, come on," Sam argued from his place on the sidelines "It's hot, and we've been doing this for hours. She's probably tired."

"You think a Wendigo is going to care that she's tired? Or a vampire, or anything else?" John snapped at him "And since you're so eager to get involved, you take over for Dean."

Sam sighed heavily and looked like he was about to argue, but Dean shot him a glance that kept him from opening his mouth. It seemed to Dean that all Sam and Dad did lately was argue and bicker with one another. He'd tried appealing to his father about it, but John was as stubborn as he was gruff, and that was a lot. Dean knew how to pick his battles when it came down to his old man, so he'd dropped it, but that didn't mean the same applied to Sammy.

Sam saw the warning glance his brother shot him, and silently replied with a small nod. It was too hot to fight anyway.

With that situation averted, Dean turned back to Lena. She really did look beat; her hair was plastered to her face, she was covered in sweat, and she was hunched over with her hands on her knees, breathing hard. It wasn't the long hours that was wearing Lena down-stamina wasn't her problem-but Sam and Dean were both easily twice her size. She had to work twice as hard to even half their advantage, and it was taking its toll on her.

"Dad, are you sure we can't pick this up tomorrow?" Lena whined quietly, swiping a hand over her face to move her hair.

"You want to just give up, Elena Mary?" John asked sharply.

Lena grimaced at the use of her full name. Lena knew her Dad only did that when he was serious, and she could have sworn that he'd only given Lena her mother's name as a middle name to guilt trip her.

"No Sir," she replied quickly "But I-"

John cut her off with a bi tter laugh.

"You know what Lena? Forget it. You won't get it anyway."

"Yes I will." Lena answered indignantly, though the sudden accusation caught her off guard and made her sound like the child she was, but was never treated like.

John let out another cold, bitter chuckle, shook his head and turned away, starting to walk back towards Bobby's house.

A flash of red clouded Lena's vision, and she stood up straight. She took a deep breath and strode over to her starting position.

"Sam, let's go." She grumbled through gritted teeth.

Her brothers looked over to her in surprise, and John turned back too. Dean crossed over to her and muttered in her ear.

"Le, you don't have to do this."  
"Don't I?" Lena questioned rhetorically, and they both knew the answer. Dean let out a sigh and returned to the edge, but Sam remained where he was still.

"Sam. Let's go." Lena replied repeated determinedly. Sam stepped forwards reluctantly, but only because he could see that glint in his sister's eye-the same as Dean and Dad sometimes got-that told him that Lena wasn't going to back down or change her mind.

Their training that day was sparring, and they were to use anything they could get their hands on to disarm and stop the other person. John said the point was because they might not always have a weapon at hand, and they needed to be able to improvise. Lena thought that it was just because it was another way for him to show who was boss.

John stood next to Dean, his arms folded across his chest, a small, smug grin plastered on his face. Sam was hesitant, but Lena was firmly set. If tensions weren't so high, the look on Lena's face might have been amusing to her brothers.

"Ready?" John boomed. Lena gave a curt nod, and Sam slowly mirrored her "3...2...1...Go."

Lena didn't even pause before swinging her fists, but Sam anticipated her move and blocked her endeavours. He grabbed her wrists to keep her still, though Lena fought with everything she had. Sam swung out his foot to knock Lena's legs from under her. She hit the ground hard, and she spotted her 'weapon' out the corner of her eye, and she scurried off on all fours towards it. Sam reached out for Lena's ankles, but she scrabbled for the long metal pole that had rolled under one of Bobby's scrap cars. She quickly used it to knock Sam's hand away and pushed herself to her feet. Lena used the pole to keep Sam at a distance, but close enough to use his own trick against him, kicking the back of his knees, sending him sprawling to the floor. The ends of the pole were blunt, and if she was up against anything other than her family, something less than human, it would have been pretty useless. However, in the practise situation, it was enough to pin Sam's arms to the floor, while Lena sat on him to keep him down. In all, the whole thing maybe lasted sixty seconds, but it felt like as many hours.

For a second, no one moved. Sam blinked up at her dazedly, and Dean had to consciously stop his jaw from dropping.

Eventually, Lena could feel the fatigue start to set in again, so she got up before she couldn't. Her expression was stormy as she strode over defiantly to John, dropped the pole on the ground at his feet and glared darkly at him for a moment.

"I told you I could do it." She spat bitterly before carrying on towards the house, a shower and her bed waiting gratefully for her.

* * *

_**A/N 2: I know John was a bit of an ass in this chapter, but I needed him to be to show how determined Lena can be, especially when presented with a challenge!**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: Howdy ;)**_

_**I feel quite proud of myself this week haha Two chapters in a few days :) It would have been yesterday, but I'm lazy and didn't get it finished hehe**_

_**I promise I'm not going to babble on this chapter like I usually do haha I've had a few more ideas, so I'm thinking that there will be roughly another four chapter of this story, unless anybody has any other suggestions **_

_**Please R+R! I've discovered that I'm actually addicted to them, and like any addict, I need my fix! Pweeety pweeeease?**_

_**Anyway,**_

_**Peace!**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 22 years old**_

_**Sam: 18 years old**_

_**Lena: 12 years old**_

"Absolutely not Sam!"

"But Dad, I-"

"I told you know. End of."

"You're not listening to me!"

"No Sam, _you're_ not listening to _me_! You're not going."

"Guys, come on."  
"Shut up Dean. God dammit Dad! I'm eighteen years old. You can't tell me what I can and can't do."

"Like hell I can't! Sam, I..."

The walls rumbled with heated arguments, and Lena folded the pillow around her head in hopes of blocking them out. They were in one of the nicer motels, where the beds were in another, smaller room, but the walls were thin and every word resounded heavily in her ears. She'd been in the other room, watching TV, when it'd started. Dean and Lena had stayed at the motel room while Sam went with their dad to get dinner. Apparently, Sam wanted to talk to him about something anyway. When they got back, there was a sharp, tingly atmosphere, but Dean and Lena shrugged it off. With the amount of arguing John and Sam had been doing lately, it was almost like a permanent feature of their day-to-day lives.

But there was something different about this argument. It felt more intense, and once the eldest and youngest Winchester children picked up on it, it was almost impossible to ignore.

Sensing the calm before the storm, Dean let Lena eat her dinner and sent her to the bedroom. Seconds later, the motel room erupted.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean had to yell above Sam and John's heated tones.

"You're brother thinks he's going off to _college_." John spat. If Lena hadn't been so terrified that Sam would go, she might have noticed the irony in the fact that their farther was mad because Sam _wanted _to go to school.

"Dean, I got a full ride. To Stanford!" Sam explained to his big brother almost pleadingly.

The mixture of excitement and desperation in Sam's face made Dean need to turn away from his little brother. Sam's greatest weapon had always been his puppy dog eyes, and he'd turned them up full blast in an attempt to get Dean on his side. Dean saw the attack, and he couldn't decide whether or not it was working, or whether he wanted it to. Dean knew that going off to school, away from hunting, would make Sam the happiest kid on the planet. He was also painfully aware of the fact that if Sam was at college, there was no way for Dean to ensure that he was safe, no way for him to keep the four of them together and protected.

"You could have a full ride to freakin' Buckingham Palace, and the answer would still be _no._" John retorted sharply.

Sam scoffed bitterly "I think you're forgetting that I wasn't asking your permission, I'm telling you: I'm going."

"Like hell you are. I-"

"You can't stop me Dad-"

"Will you two just-"

Lena let out a frustrated huff and threw back the covers. She slid from the bed and stomped angrily to the door, yanking it open and stormed over to her brothers and her father, none of whom had noticed her.

"Shut up!" She screamed over their yells "Just shut up!"

John, Dean and Sam blinked over at her dazedly, silenced by Lena's sudden outburst.

"You're being ridiculous!" she told them seriously, folding her arms across her chest.

John turned to Sam irritably "Now see what you've done, you've upset your sister. Go back to bed, Elena."

"What _I've _done?!" Sam exclaimed defensively "You know what? Maybe I should take Elena with me!"

"That's not going to happen." John growled darkly.

"Why not?" Sam demanded "She's almost thirteen years old and she doesn't know what normal is. The closest thing to home she's ever had is the freakin' car! The only thing she knows is hunting, and she'd be a damn sight safer with me!"

John ignored Sam's comments and turned to Lena "Princess, go back to bed."

"But Dad..." Lena started, but she found she couldn't finish. But what? She didn't want Sam to leave without her, but she didn't want to be away from Dean and Dad either. She was torn between the three most important people in her life, and the conflict must have been etched deeply into her face, because Dean put his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Come on Le," he murmured gently "I'll come with you."

The choice was taken out of her hand, and Lena allowed her oldest brother to usher her back into the bedroom. Dean slipped out of his shoes and pulled the quilt over the two of them as they clambered onto the mattress. Lena jumped a little when Sam and John stated shouting again, but Dean moved closer and wrapped an arm around her protectively.

"What are we going to do Dean?" She whispered feebly.

"Don't worry about it Le." He replied just as dismally, though he tried his best to hide it. "No matter what happens, it'll be ok."

Lena doubted her brother's words, but they comforted her slightly all the same. John and Sam had gone back to full blown argument again, but Dean spoke gently into her ear, somehow managing to drown them out, and after a while, Lena fell asleep. Not soundly, but asleep none the less.

When she woke up in the morning, Lena was alone in the room. She looked over to the other bed, but there was no sign of either of her brothers. She rubbed her eyes wearily and got out of bed. Going into the other room revealed John, slumped over the table, snoring, with near empty bottle of whiskey next to him. Dean was sat on the couch, cleaning guns, looking stormy faced. Lena glanced fearfully over near the front door, where they had left their duffel bag, seeing her worst fears realised.

Sam's was gone. Tears welled in Lena's eyes. Her brother was gone, and suddenly, the room felt a lot emptier.


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: Hey guys :)**_

_**I'm really not going to babble I swear haha it's nearly half twelve in the morning, so I'm tired, but I was determined to get this chapter out, as promised! It's longer than I intended, but I think it needed to be to get all the important parts in :)**_

_**Please let me know what you think!**_

_**Peace out,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 23 years old**_

_**Sam: 19 years old**_

_**Lena: 13 years old**_

Lena woke up to a dark room. Dean snored loudly in the bed next to her. She hadn't needed to share a bed with anyone since Sam had left for college a few months ago. It took her a second to realised that she hadn't awoken for no reason; John was crouched next to her bed, nudging her gently.

"Dad?" She whispered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes wearily "What's going on?"

"Get dressed Princess" John instructed quickly, handing her a pile of clothes "But don't wake up your brother."

Lena furrowed her brow slightly. It was usually the other way around, with Dean being warned not to wake his sister.

Lena quickly obeyed, being careful to be silent and swift. When she was dressed, she pulled a brush through her long, darkening hair, tied it into a high ponytail and gathered up her dirty pjs. She took them to the other room, where John was waiting for her, and gently closed the door behind her, leaving Dean sleeping undisturbed.

"What's going on Dad?" Lena asked quietly, looking intently at her father's face. It didn't look like he'd had a shave for a while, so his chin was speckled in dark stubble. His eyes were ringed with bags, like he hadn't slept for a few days.

"We're going for a ride." John replied in a low mumble "Go get in the car."

"Yes Sir." Lena answered with a nod, going over to stuff her pjs in the bag of dirty laundry. She slipped on her jacket and stepped out the door. The sun was just about beginning to rise, casting a pink glow over the parking lot. The impala and John's large, black truck sat dutifully besides each other, waiting. She instinctively went for the impala before catching herself. She was used to riding with Dean, especially since Sammy left. She'd even been allowed to ride shot gun, but for a while, that had been a little weird. Since John had given Dean the impala, the front passenger seat was _Sam's._ There was always just an unspoken agreement on that, and it had been strange to take his place.

John had already unlocked his truck, so Lena clambered straight in. The first thing she did was flick on the radio- the truck held Beatles Cds that Lena loved, but Dean had all but forbidden in the impala. Lena leaned back and gave a small yawn with the energetic but slightly melancholy tones of '_Help!'_ filtered through the car. John soon followed her out; the truck rumbled to life beneath them, and they peeled out of the parking lot.

Lena guessed she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, two and half hours had passed and the morning was in full swing. She stretched and straightened up, causing John to look over and catch her eye.

"We're almost there," he assured her with a smile, though his voice portrayed anything but happiness.

"Almost where?" Lena queried, realising she still didn't know where they were headed. John nodded towards the glove compartment, so Lena pulled it open and took out the number of leaflets there. She read for a few minutes in contemplative silence, convinced she was still dreaming.

They were for a boarding school. In Portland.

"You'll like it there Princess, I promise." John told her, though Lena felt tears welling in her eyes.

"What did I do?" she asked as she inspected her lap, barely above a whisper.

"What are you talking about?" John asked with a light chuckle

"When Sam left, you told him not to come back." Lena snapped harshly, making John wince.

"That was different." He retorted defensively.

"Like hell it was!" Lena yelled back, suddenly filled with anger, ignoring dad's order to watch her language. "You didn't want Sam to go, and now you're taking me yourself? Well thanks Dad, thanks a lot."

Lena folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window, trying to blink back tears that were threatening to fall.

"Princess, this'll be better. You won't have to move around all the time. You'll be able to make friends." John tried softly, but Lena was too hurt and too mad for it to make a difference.

"Did you think that maybe I _like _moving all the time?" She spat accusingly "And I don't want friends, I want my brothers."

John didn't miss the fact that he wasn't included in what she wanted, but he tried to ignore it.

"And what about Dean?" Lena carried on sharply

"What do you mean?"

"When Sam left, he didn't say goodbye, and now, neither have I."

Lena couldn't help herself then; fat tears rolled over her cheeks, and she didn't even bother to try and wipe them away. John grimaced as guilt welled up in his chest.

"Please Dad," Lena sobbed desperately "I'll do better, I promise I will. Let's just go back."

John felt his foot ease from the gas pedal slightly, and he almost listened to her, but he reminded himself of why he was doing it in the first place, and forced himself to keep going.

"I'm sorry Elena, but I'm not going to change my mind. This is for the best."

John leaned over then and turned radio up. Conversation over I guess, Lena thought bitterly.

Another twenty minutes bought them to the gates of the school, high and majestic. John was stopped before he could go through, giving his and Lena's names before being allowed entrance. They were directed to a large, old brick building to sign in, so John found a parking space and they slid out. Lena's duffel was in the trunk, and John grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder before they started walking. Lena guessed that it was the day everyone moved into their dorms, so they had to weave in and out of the crowd. Despite the fact that Lena was mad at her father, she found herself huddling closer to him as they got more compactly surrounded by other people. When they signed in, they were given Lena's dorm key, and offered a tour of the campus. Lena declined; it wouldn't exactly take her long to unpack, so she'd have the rest of the day to inspect the place, scope it out and work out any escape routes, just in case.

Lena's room was on the second floor of one of the smaller blocked, and the room was empty when she walked in. Lena let out sigh of relief, but it was quickly retracted when she saw two beds. That meant a roommate. John put the bag on one of them, but Lena crossed straight to the window. They might have been on the second floor, but the drop wasn't too big, easily jumpable if necessary, and the sill was a good size. Plenty of standing room for leverage, or for simply sitting on for a while. The ensuite bathroom was bigger than some motel rooms they'd stayed in before, and she wondered what Dean would say if he could see it. She also asked herself what kind of scam John was running to be able to afford the tuition. Then she decided she didn't care, because she didn't want to be there anyway.

A knock on the door bought Lena out of her thoughts. She and John spun around to see a girl in the doorway, with short blonde hair, and the biggest, bluest eyes Lena had ever seen. Lena had always thought she was small for her age, but this girl was tiny in comparison. She gave a wide grin and stepped into the room.

"I've never had a roommate before." She commented, clearly not shy. Lena, on the other hand, had no idea what to say, so she just stared.

"Right," John boomed, clearing his throat "I'll leave you to it Princess." He walked over to Lena with the intention of enveloping her in a hug, but Lena stiffened stoically, so he pressed a kiss on her forehead instead. John quickly strode from the room because he knew that if he hung around much longer, he'd be tempted to bundle Lena into the car again. Lena watched him go, but a few seconds later, she regretted being so cold, so she chased after him.

"Dad!" She called, stopping him. John turned just in time to catch her as Lena flew at him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She breathed in his familiar smell of musty leather and car crease.

"I love you Dad," She muttered into the crook of his neck, and felt John squeeze her tighter.

"I love you too Elena Mary." He replied quietly, putting her feet back to the floor "I'll get Dean to call you later."

Lena nodded and shot her dad a watery smile before trudging back to her room. The other girl was kneeling on the floor, unpacking the first of three enormous suitcases.

"You must have been here a while," She started conversationally, nodding towards Lena's bag on the bed "if that's all you've got left to unpack."

"Actually, I haven't started." Lena corrected. At this point, she didn't see the point in lying. Eventually, the girl would see that she didn't have anything else anyway. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and Lena shrugged dismissively "What can I say? I travel light."

"That's the understatement of the century," the girl commented with a small chuckle. "This your first time at boarding school?"

Lena nodded, and the girl smiled sympathetically "You'll get used to it." She said as she stood up and held out her hand "I'm Taylor."

John left the school quickly, but after a few miles he had to stop because tears were blurring his vision. He couldn't believe that he'd left his little girl, his baby, in the protection of people who had no idea what was out there. It didn't matter that he'd had Bobby run background checks on every single person on campus. Twice. It didn't feel like enough. The John reminded himself that Lena would be safer living a normal life, like Sam, so she pulled himself together and carried on driving.

Dean was cleaning weapons- a sign of his immense boredom- when John walked back in. It was late afternoon, and Dean hadn't heard from his dad or sister all day, so he was starting to get worried. However, that feeling didn't go away completely when John came in alone.

"Where's Le?" he asked, feigning casualness.

"Portland." John answered simply. Dean let out a laugh. He thought his dad was joking, until he saw the serious look on John's face.

"What's she doing in Portland?"

"I took her to a boarding school Dean." John explained solemnly "She's staying in Portland."  
Dean sat for a second in stunned silence before jumping up and heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" John barked.

"To get my sister." Dean replied in a low growl.

"No you're not Dean." John warned, moving to block his eldest's path.

"Dad, this is ridiculous. I-" Dean started angrily before John cut him off.

"You don't understand Dean. I had to!"

"Then make me understand Dad!" Dean yelled back.

"You're brother was right." John muttered quietly, catching Dean off guard. It was the first time John had willingly spoken about Sam since he'd left. "She's just a little girl Dean. She doesn't deserve this life I've given her, none of you do. Without Sam, the two of us just isn't enough to keep her safe. This is the best thing I've ever done for her, trust me."

As Dean came to the realisation that his was father was right, he visibly deflated. He knew John was right, but he didn't have to like it. In fact, he hated it, detested it more than he'd imagined possible. His thoughts must have been plain on his face, because John clapped him sympathetically on the shoulder.

"It's just you and me now, Ace."


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: Hey guys!**_

_**I'm not gonna say too much today because I've got a boat load of essays to do for college :( This is kind of a short chapter, but I'm pretty happy with it tbh haha I only have ideas for two more chapters of this story left! Buuut I break up for a week tomorrow, so they should both be done pretty soon!**_

_**Please please pweettty please leave me a review! I love reading them soooo much!**_

_**Love,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 24 years old**_

_**Sam: 20 years old**_

_**Lena: 14 years old**_

A low, full moon hung in the sky, casting a milky glow over the deserted walkways of the campus. Lena sat on her window-ledge, watching the trees sway slightly in the light breeze. She couldn't sleep, even though she knew she'd regret being up so late in the morning. From her seat, she could see onto the main street. They'd taken the gates down, and it renewed the campus with a sense of freedom that the high iron fences had kept out. She's been at school a while now, but the night times never got any easier. The days were ok; she could keep busy with classes and extra curriculum activities. She'd made friends, including Taylor and the three girls in the room next door, and things were never boring with them around. But it was the middle of the night, and they were all sleeping, so Lena was left alone with her thoughts. They weren't exactly comforting. She'd spoken to Dean on the phone during her lunch break. She's listened with genuine interest and longing while he told her about the latest case he was working on. They were going after a particularly nasty werewolf who'd claimed countless victims. He was quick, Dean had told her earnestly, with an almost childlike excitement. If they didn't get him tonight, he'd disappear into the woodwork and be gone gone for years. Dean had assured her that they'd get him, they'd be fine, but since then Lena couldn't get the worry out of her head. She'd made Dean promise to call her when they were done, no matter what time it was, and that was what she was waiting for.  
A shiver passed up Lena's spine, and she wandered over to her bed to grab the pretty, thinner blanket that Taylor had given her for Christmas. She wrapped it around her shoulders and resumed her seat on the window-ledge, pulling her knees up to her chest. She checked her phone again. Nothing.

Lena picked up the paperback she was in the middle of reading. She wasn't interested in the words on the page, and she pretended to pay any attention to what they were saying, but they kept her mind from asking 'what if?' and conjuring up images that never ended in the way she wanted.  
Lena lost track on how long she sat there waiting. She somehow managed to keep herself from falling asleep, though her eyelids drooped a few times.  
She was in the middle of counting the stars she could see when her phone suddenly started buzzing next to her. Finally! She thought as she snatched it up.  
"Dean! Are you alright? Did you get him? Is Dad ok? What happened? Are you ok?" Lena asked in a hurried, frantic whisper.  
"Whoa whoa, Le, chill out." Dean chuckled lightly."We're fine. An yeah, we got him." Lena let out a tired, relieved sigh. She could hear the proud grin on her brother's face, and the low tones of Metallica filtered through the phone to her. "What are you doing up?"  
Lena suddenly wanted to smack the stupid smile off his stupid face.  
"I've been waiting for you to call!" She blurted, louder than she intended, and Taylor shifted slightly in her bed.  
"It's a pretty good job I remembered then, huh?"  
Lena scrubbed a hand over her face "If you hadn't remembered, you'd be seeing me in the morning because I'd busted out of school to see for myself that you're weren't dead."  
Dean laughed again, and Lena started to feel silly for worrying so much. Of course they were fine. They were John and Dean Winchester for god's sake. It would take more than one measly wolf to take them down.  
"Well, I've called now, so why don't you get into bed, huh?" Dean suggested softly, and Lena slid off the ledge.  
"Ok" she mumbled sleepily as she shrugged off the blanket and with one hand flicked it back over her bed before clambering in.  
"You in?" Dean asked patiently, as if he knew already that she was.  
"Yep." Lena replied, stifling a yawn.  
"Alright, goodnight Princess. I love you."  
"I love you too. Goodnight De."  
Lena heard Dean hang up, and she clicked her own phone shut, but she was asleep before she even had time to return it to the nightstand.


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: Hey guys!**_

_**I know I promised a few more chapters of various stories this week since I'm off college, but the reality of my break was hours each day spent on college work, so I haven't had as much time to write as I would have liked :( I'm hoping to make a start on the next, and final, chapter of Hands and Feet tonight, and I'm also planning on having another chapter of Things that go Bump in the Night up over the weekend too :)**_

_**I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter to be honest :/ I read it once and think that it's ok, but then I read it again and think it's utter crap lol So pretty please let me know what you think!**_

_**Hugs to everyone who has reviewed so far!**_

_**Love,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 25 years old**_

_**Sam: 21 years old**_

_**Lena: 15 years old**_

"Elena, if you don't get your scrawny little ass out here right now, we're going to leave without you." Taylor hollered warningly through the bathroom door. Lena rolled her eyes and finished tying up her hair.

"Go ahead," she retorted, making no effort to speed up "Have fun without me! I won't wait up!"  
"Oh no, you're not getting away with it that easy." Taylor replied, throwing open the bathroom door, and shooting Lena a stern glance "Get a move on Winchester. I'm going to get the others, and you better be ready by the time I get back."  
Lena stuck out her tongue and turned back to the mirror. She was being forced to go shopping, very much against her will. Lena detested shopping, especially clothes shopping, more than anything else in the world, but she'd promised to go with Taylor and their other friends as soon as their mid-terms were over, and she always did her best to keep her promises. She checked her mascara- she wasn't afraid to admit that Taylor had to teach her how to put on make-up, because she thought that only having older brothers and no mother was a good enough excuse not to know. When she was satisfied that none of it had smudged, she went into the other room and started putting her things on her bag. She started with her purse, a little fuller than usual, since she'd made a little extra money tutoring this kid called Jake, so she could afford to splurge a little. Next was her trusty iPod, not because she needed it, but because it had become a sort of routine to never leave without it. She threw in a lip balm too, just so that she could prove to Taylor that she _did _know how to be a normal teenage girl, even if she didn't like it sometimes. God, Lena thought to herself, that sounds so good; normal. Lastly, she grabbed up her phone from the bedside table, but before she could stuff that in her bag too, it started to ring and vibrate in her hand. She frowned down at the screen, and was pleasantly surprised to see Sam's name. She smiled and quickly answered.

"Hey Sammy," she said, beaming. It had been a while since she'd spoken to either of her brothers, so she was glad to hear from one of them.

"Hi Princess," Sam replied cheerfully. "How did your mid-terms go?"

"Seriously dude, this is the first time I speak to you in god knows how long, and you're asking me about mid-terms? You're the most boring person I know, you know that?" Lena asked incredulously as she sat back on her bed, waiting for Taylor to come back. Surely her friend wouldn't yell at her for talking to her brother? Yeah, she would. "How did you know I even had mid-terms?"

"Because I just had mine too," Sam laughed "What are you up to?"

"I am just about to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into town to spend hours looking at clothes that none of us have any intention of buying." Lena replied dejectedly.

"Sounds gruesome." Sam answered.

"Tell me about it." Lena huffed "What about you? What's going on in the land of normal-college-boy-Sammy?"

"Oh you know same old, same old." Sam told her breezily "Speaking of which, there's an open day here in a few weeks for prospective students."

"O...K... Where's this going Sam?" Lena queried, furrowing her brow slightly as she lay back on the mattress, listening to the springs creak.

"I was thinking you might want to check it out."

"Sam, I don't even know if I want to go to college yet, and I'm only fifteen. Don't you think it's a little early to be looking at colleges?"

"Well, you never know," Sam replied, feigning casualness "You might like it, and want to stay."

Lena groaned "Come on Sam, you can't dump stuff like that on me."

"I'm just saying, you might like California."

"And what about your girlfriend, huh? You really think she's going to want your annoying kid sister hanging around all the time?" Lena sighed, running a hand over her hair, pulling it through her ponytail.

"Are you kidding me? Jess would love you!" Sam exclaimed, and Lena could tell that he was really trying hard to convince her, as he had done multiple times over the past few months, to move to Stanford with him.

"I'm messy." Lena tried half-heartedly. It wasn't that she didn't want to live with Sam, she just didn't want to leave school. She was finally starting to enjoy it, and she didn't want to uproot herself and start again.

"No, Le, you're not. I lived with you for your whole life, remember? You're the most compulsively neat person I know."

"Dean wouldn't like it," Lena argued "You know how he gets in the heat."  
"Dean?"

"Yeah," Lena replied, like it should have been obvious. "Come on Sam, we both already left him once to go to school. How would it look to him if we moved in together without him?"

Lena heard Sam sigh heavily "You're right." He answered stiffly.

"Sam,-" Lena started, but she didn't know how to finish. However, she didn't really need to. Sam knew that it wasn't about him, but while they were apart it was easy to rationalise staying out of the hunting world. It was too dangerous, to do alone, too vast and lonely and seemingly impossible. But if there were two of them...  
Sam let out a sigh again, not really knowing what to say instead, trying not to show in his voice how utterly disappointed he was "I'll tell you what, why don't you think about it, and let me know in a few weeks? You don't have to decide right away anyway."  
"Ok." Lena replied, though they both knew it would be the last thing either of them said about it for a while. Lena looked up when Taylor wandered back in, her hand on her hip, leaning on the door frame impatiently. "Listen Sammy, I've really got to go, or I have a feeling that my roommate's going to beat me."

"Alright," Sam said, pushing out a forced laugh. "I'll see you in a few weeks. Maybe."

"Maybe" Lena agreed. "I love you Sammy."

"I love you too Le."

"See you later." Lena finished and quickly hung up before she could change her mind and start packing. She sat up, ran a hand through her hair and again and pushed a smile onto her face, ready to try and be normal for another day.


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N: Hey guys! It seems like forever since I've posted anything for this, huh?**_

_**I've been super busy with college lately, but I managed to find a little time to finish this chapter earlier on. **_

_**It' . .GUYS! I can't believe all the amazing reviews I've had for this story, and I want to thank sweetkiwi604, wandertogondor, Mayrem, Jenmm31, shoobiebuster and nerdygirl3.14! You all mean the world to me, and I'm sure this story wouldn't have gotten past the first two or three chapters without you, so thank you mwah!**_

_**I get that not everyone likes leaving reviews, so thank you all so much for simply reading!**_

_**For the last time on Hands and Feet, please let me know what you think! I personally think this chapter sounded better in my head haha**_

_**Peace and love!**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.

_**Dean: 26 years old**_

_**Sam: 22 years old**_

_**Lena: 16 years old**_

It was about ten o'clock on a Saturday morning when Dean pulled up just outside the grounds of the school. It was mid-November, and there was only one person willing to brave the bitter winds that blew to sit outside. Books were weighed down with pencil cases and cans of soda while she scribbled determinedly into a notebook. The breeze picked up her hair- a little darker than Dean remembered and longer too- and played with it, and Dean wondered why his little sister didn't just tie it back. From his spot he could see her clearly, but he doubted Lena could see him. It was a good thing; he didn't want Lena to know he was there. He needed time to think, to work out what he was going to do.

Dean knew that he should talk to Sam, but he knew that it wasn't his own choice that he hadn't spoken to his little brother for over two years. At least he knew more about what was going on in Lena's life, even if it was only a little. She had friends that she cared about. She was looking into going on vacation with them over the summer. She was acing all her biology work. As simple as those things seemed, they made a difference in Dean's head about what he was going to do.

Dean was momentarily distracted from his thoughts when he noticed Lena look up-not at him- and beam. A second later, a gangly, blond boy approached her. The boy sat down next to Lena, said something and, much to Dean's utter dismay, leaned over and kissed her. Dean felt his grip on the steering wheel tighten, and as Lena leaned closer into the kiss, he had to stop himself from getting out the car and storming over to remind them to come up for air.

Eventually they separated, but Dean still wished her could go over and tear the kid's lungs out for even going near his sister. He watched them chatting for a few minutes. At one point, Lena threw her head back and laughed so loudly, Dean could've sworn he'd heard her.

Lena and her _friend_ scooted apart subtly when four other girls turned up too, and they all somehow managed to fit at the table.

Dean couldn't help but notice how normal and ordinary Lena looked. For everyone else, that may not be such a good thing, but as she talked and joked with her friends, Dean knew that for Lena, it was the best thing. It only made the choice he'd got even harder to make. He knew that if their Dad was there, he'd know what to do. But then again, he thought, if their Dad was there, they wouldn't have a problem.

He'd give it another week, Dean finally decided. He'd give it a week to see if John turned up, and if not, he'd go and see Sammy, maybe circle back for Le.

It was about time he started trying to pick up the pieces of his broken, scattered family.


End file.
